To Be By Your Side
by StarlightGlow
Summary: AU. Ron Weasley was never meant to be a Slytherin, so why did he end up in it? He's going to find out with the help of a bushy haired muggleborn, but considering she's the girlfriend of one of his brothers it's not going to be very easy. Full summ inside.
1. Chapter 1

_Summary: When Ronald Weasley is placed in Slytherin in his first year at Hogwarts, no-one ever thought it was possible. Now, six years later, his life is about to change through the form of a bushy haired muggleborn. Considering she's the girlfriend of one of his brothers and her best friend is the Boy-Who-Lived, will the change really be for the better? Then again the course of true love was never supposed to run smoothly…_

**A:N/ I feel the need to point this out and I will only point this out once. Just because Ron is in Slytherin in this story, that DOES NOT mean he's got any Slytherin-ish qualities. He's not going to be some Draco Malfoy wanna-be. He will remain the same Roonil Wazlib we all know and love. 'Then why is he in Slytherin?' I hear you ask, well that is part of the mystery dears! **

**If you haven't gathered already (although it's probably more noticeable than a dancing hippogriff) this will be a Ron/Hermione centric story, don't like? Then piss off right now please.**

**Every chapter will feature a song that fits well. This one can be found here: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=q8lncpE51a8  
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**Just replace the closed brackets with fullstops and you're sorted!**

**Enough of my rambling now, and on with the story.**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 1

First Glances and Meeting Again

"_When I first saw you_

_I knew you had a flame in your heart_

_And under our blue skies_

_Marble movie skies_

_I found a home in your eyes_

_We'll never be apart"_

_Daniel - Bat for Lashes_

Hermione Granger had always been an intelligent girl. It was considered a necessity being the only best friend of the one and only Harry Potter, whose life never seemed to be in peace. If someone had told her that she would make her first friend at Hogwarts after they saved her life from a troll, she would have questioned whether they were a son or daughter of Professor Trelawney. The reason behind her needing to be saved was; she'd spent the entire day crying in the bathroom after Draco Malfoy had called her 'a know it all mudblood' simply from being able to perform a basic Wingardium Leviosa charm on her first attempt. Although, the fact whether or not Harry really saved her was questionable. He had tried, bless his heart, but only managed to distract the troll from killing Hermione to try and kill him instead, by holding him upside down aiming to hit him with a wooden club. He had successfully managed to dodge it everytime until some professors had appeared managing to stun the troll before it did any more damage.

Despite the unusual circumstance, Harry and Hermione grew close to one another and had remained best friends ever since that day. That was all they were and had ever been. Of course, there were rumours of them being a couple but it had never crossed their minds. They shared platonic feelings, loving eachother like they were siblings. The rumours had died down ever since their fourth year at Hogwarts, when it became clear that Hermione was taken by one of the seven Weasley brothers.

It was this said Weasley brother that now had her questioning her intelligence at this moment in time. Hermione slammed shut her Hogwarts trunk filled with various clothes, school equipment and other necessities. She had finished packing for her departure to the Burrow the next morning, something which she had been dreading since she received that fateful letter from her close friend Ginny Weasley two days ago. She had received a much more positive letter three weeks previous inviting her to stay for the last two weeks of summer before her sixth year at Hogwarts from her boyfriend. She replied instantly wanting to write 'YES!' a thousand times over but settled for a polite acceptance. What her boyfriend however had failed to inform her of was that his parents had no idea of their relationship, which was what Ginny had taken the liberty of enlightening her of. It seemed that the only people aware of this relationship in his family apart from her, him and Ginny were a few of his brothers. A few! It wasn't even all of his brothers!

Needless to say, Hermione was now torn between giving a very late letter with a pathetic lie about why she suddenly couldn't make it or, going to the Burrow tomorrow to endure an awkward two weeks of pretending she wasn't in a relationship. Even though she had been in one for the past year.

She was well aware of the fact no matter how much she contemplated between the two she would end up doing the latter, ever being the polite nice girl she was. Although, if her so called boyfriend thought she was going to be doing this quietly, he had another thing coming.

It was with this thought in mind she confidently strode up the pathway to the front door of the Burrow the next morning, forgetting to observe the strange shape of the house she had never seen before. She barely knocked on the door before it was flung open and she was enveloped into the arms of who she assumed to be Molly Weasley.

"Oh! You must be Hermione! It's so nice to finally meet you. Ginny has told us all about you of course and we're simply delighted you're staying with us." Molly exclaimed, with arms wrapped so tightly around Hermione; a stranger would have assumed she was a member of the family. Hermione's eyes widened but she politely wrapped her arms back around Molly before pulling out of her embrace.

"The pleasure is all mine Mrs Weasley. Thank you so much for having me." Hermione replied, picking up her trunk after dropping it from Molly's hug. She stepped inside the house and couldn't help the grin that spread across her face. This was a place anyone could walk into and call it home.

She didn't have much time to admire the living room before she was wrapped in another hug. This time though she knew the owner's arms to be of Ginny Weasley's and returned the hug instantly.

"Hermione! Sorry about mum, she's always overly emotional and enthusiastic about anything." Ginny explained, pulling away from Hermione as Molly shuffled into the kitchen, unaware of her daughter's comment.

"It's quite all right. She's lovely." Hermione answered, looking around. It was cluttered but not in an overly messy way. The majority of space in the living room was taken up with sofas and armchairs, no doubt needed when all the Weasley children lived in the house at some point. Apart from that, the only thing in the room was a coffee table that was covered in papers and magazines. The room burst of colour from all the mismatched furniture which only added to the warmth and appeal of the place.

Molly flicked her wand at the potatoes so they started peeling themselves. Hermione dropped her trunk and took a few steps towards the large fireplace, admiring the family photos. She smiled seeing one of the entire family in Egypt while the actual Molly walked over to the staircase.

"Fred! George! Ron! Get down here and welcome our guest!" She shouted, making Hermione blush in slight embarrassment at the prospect of laying eyes on her boyfriend for the first time in a month. She quickly remembered she was angry with him though and willed for her blush to disappear when the sounds of many steps came stumbling down the stairs. "I take it you've met them at Hogwarts Hermione?"

"Briefly." was all Hermione could think of without lying too much. Ginny snorted earning a slight glare from Hermione. The Weasley boys appeared and Hermione did her best to ignore the one she was getting close to furious with.

She was well aware of the fact that as soon as his eyes landed on her, he wasn't going to remove them. It was an especially hot day in Devon so she was left with no option but to wear denim shorts and a slightly small red t-shirt, unless she wanted to boil in the weather. Considering her and her boyfriend had only been together in Hogwarts before, (and the odd Hogsmeade trip in winter) he had never seen her so under dressed.

She discovered her assumption was true when she looked at him to see a mischievous grin on his face and he winked at her. She gave him a cold look as a response before crossing her arms under her chest.

"Where's Ron?" Molly asked, gaining Hermione's attention to see only the twins in front of her.

"Who knows?" Fred started, with an expression that wasn't to be trusted.

"Except himself of course." George continued with the exact same expression.

"Quite right Gred."

"Merlin, I hope you haven't been testing out some of your products on him again." Molly sighed exhaustedly, sounding like she had said this statement far too many times to know the answer already.

"Of course they haven't. Ron naturally has ears the size of quaffles." Ginny answered, before the twins could think about replying.

"You're really no fun Gin." George sighed.

"True. We could have had mum guessing for a good ten minutes about what we did to him-" Fred said, still grinning.

"-Before we gave in."

"If his ears aren't back to their normal size in the next five minutes, you can both say goodbye to the rest of your summer!" Molly snapped, pointing her finger accusingly at them.

"But mother dearest, there's no antidote to the potion." Fred grinned as Molly's jaw tensed.

"The effects should wear off in quarter of an hour though." George quickly added, not wanting to suffer from Molly's wrath for the second time that day.

"Afternoon Weasleys!" Arthur declared, walking in the front door unaware of the scene he had stepped in on. "Oh. Hello. You must be Hermione. Glad to have you here, I take it the portkey worked fine then."

"Yes thank you Mr Weasley. It's nice to meet you." She greeted him, shaking his hand smiling up at him.

"Oh Hermione dear! How rude of us. Fred, George take her trunk up to Ginny's room will you? I'm terribly sorry for you to witness that." Molly apologised, having forgotten Hermione's presence for the past few minutes.

"It's quite all right Mrs Weasley." Hermione replied, as Arthur hung up his coat and kissed his wife's cheek. They shared a loving look for a few seconds, not needing to say any words to show their adoration before they both moved to the kitchen.

Hermione couldn't help the smile that spread across her face from seeing the couple. She felt almost lucky to witness such a simple scene that showed a moment where you just knew the couple would always be together.

"Please dear, call me Molly. Ginny, why don't you show Hermione around? I need to have a talk with your father about Fred and George." Molly said, the look of contentment now gone from her features.

"Will do." Ginny said smiling, and gestured for Hermione to follow her up the stairs.

"So what have they done this time?" Arthur asked, sounding like he really didn't want to know the answer. After a few steps, Ginny heard her parents mumbling and figured it was safe to talk.

"I'm guessing you won't mind waiting for the grand tour till later. Once you've had a good shout at him." Ginny said, referring to Hermione's boyfriend.

"You know me too well." Hermione answered, as Ginny stopped walking in front of her room. She opened the door and Hermione walked in as Fred and George just finished putting up the cot she'd be sleeping in. Fred turned to George and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Good luck." Fred said, and walked over to Hermione placing a hand on her shoulder. "Please let him live at least Granger. I've grown quite fond of him."

"Wish I could say the same right now." Hermione said, as he walked out and closed the door. She faced George with her hands on her hips and glared at him with as much anger as she could. She couldn't deny the small part of her that was happy to see him, after being apart for the longest time they had been since they'd been together.

He was stood about a foot away from her and the mischievous gleam in his eyes wasn't leaving, despite the fury practically radiating off of her.

"You can act as angry as you want but it's not going to change the fact that all I can think about is how good you look right now." George admitted, taking a few steps towards her.

"Oh no Mister! You're not getting out of this that easily!" She snapped. "How dare you even consider inviting me around to stay with you for two weeks, when you haven't even been courteous enough to inform your parents of our relationship! If that's the way you want to play it then I'm going to act as only your sister's close friend whether or not your parents are in the room! I refuse to fall into this perverse idea of yours of us sneaking around behind their backs!"

"Hermione, can I at least try to get out of this?" He said hopefully, taking another step towards her. He took another glare as a 'yes'. "No doubt my mother greeted you with a hug worthy of Hagrid's, thinking you were just a friend of Ginny's. Can you imagine what her greeting would have been like if she knew you were my girlfriend? She would have instantly assumed we were getting married and wouldn't let us out of her sight for a second."

"You know I wouldn't care about that." Hermione answered, as he stood a few inches away.

"Yes, but I would since she'd never let me in two feet of you. And I'd quite like to be able to snog the brains out of my 'oh so intelligent girlfriend' once in awhile." He grinned waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"George, can't you ple-" He had clearly decided he'd waited far too long and had crashed his lips on hers. He placed a hand on the small of her back pulling her closer to him and used the other to glide to the back of her neck. She contemplated pushing him away, putting her threat to good use, but figured she could let one kiss go. After all, it had been a while since they last kissed.

She felt him glide his tongue over her bottom lip skillfully and gave into it, wrapping her arms around his neck. She was surprised to hear him practically growl into her mouth pushing her back against the door. She let her head rest against it breaking the kiss, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Someone's eager aren't they." She said, smiling coyly as his hand swept from her back to her hip. He gripped his hand tighter hearing her and looked in her eyes.

"That tone of yours isn't helping." He replied, letting his hand slide lower where he lightly stroked her bare thigh with the tips of his fingers. She did her best not to show the shivers it caused to go through her and swept her hands to the front of his chest.

"Too bad. That's all you're getting till we're back at Hogwarts." She answered, grinning evilly pushing him away gently and pulled open the door.

"Oh no. I'm not letting you get away that easy." He snapped playfully, pushing the door shut with his hands on either side of her head. She pressed herself against the door as much as possible so no part of him was touching her.

"If only there was something you could do so we wouldn't have to wait so long." She innocently started gliding her fingers across the collar of his shirt back and forth staring at a freckle on his neck.

"I really hate you sometimes." He said huskily, making her knees weak as his lips drifted down towards hers again. Her hand found the door handle and she pushed it down.

"What a romantic thing to say to your girlfriend the first time you see her in over thirty days." She joked, and pulled the door open, quickly fleeing the room before he could pull her back. She drifted downstairs to find Ginny smirking on the sofa.

"Oh yes, looks like all you did was yell at him." She remarked, and Hermione unconsciously started flattening her hair and correcting her clothes.

"So Hermione, Ginny tells me you're the smartest witch in Hogwarts?" Molly asked from the kitchen, not hearing Ginny's comment.

"Well, I wouldn't say that." Hermione replied, blushing and walked into the kitchen as Ginny boiled the kettle.

"Don't be so modest dear. I've heard many remarkable things about you and not just from Ginny. You must be important when the Daily Prophet is mentioning you on an almost weekly basis." Molly continued washing up dishes as Hermione got out some mugs and started preparing them all a cup of tea. Ginny got out another tea-towel and started drying the dishes Molly washed.

"I wouldn't believe everything you hear about me in that, they seemed to have it in their heads I'm the love of Harry's life." Hermione persisted, hating the attention she appeared to still be receiving. She had expected it to die down after five years of being a close friend of Harry's but apparently not.

"Which she certainly isn't." George declared, entering the room making Hermione's head whip around to give him a warning look. Fred quickly appeared by his side with a devilish grin.

"Oh yes. Tell me George, how do you know so much about Miss Granger's life?" Fred asked cheekily, making Ginny snort. Molly momentarily stopped washing with a perplexed expression but quickly tried to keep a casual act. Hermione put the tea on the table and smiled at Fred appreciatively. It seemed almost clear now that George wasn't willing to unveil their relationship yet to his parents so she settled for the next best thing.

That was until a loud roar and stomping down the staircase was heard.

"FRED! GEORGE! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU I'M GOING TO BLOODY KILL THE PAIR OF YOU!" A male voice shouted at the top of his lungs, before appearing in the kitchen.

"Ronald Weasley! You won't use that language in my house unless you want me to wash your mouth out with soap again!" Molly snapped, twisting half her body around to point a threatening soapy finger at him.

"But mum! Look what they did! I'm covered in boils." He grumbled angrily, as Fred and George shared an amused look. Hermione looked revolted seeing the pus exploding out of the large red boils covering his arms and neck.

"Fred, George, put him back to normal right now or I'll never consider that insane Joke Shop idea of yours." Molly warned, flicking her wand at a pan to boil dangerously close to the twins.

"But mum, that does depend on your definition of normal." George piped up grinning, causing Hermione's eyes to roll.

"Exactly, if by normal you mean Ronniekin's usual state then that's easily done." Fred continued, and Ginny shook her head sighing before taking a long gulp of tea leaning against a counter.

"Yes, but if you mean normal as in sane, then that simply can't be done. It's not our fault our brother turned out to be such a gangly freak."

"Oi!" Ron snapped outraged. It was clear that even though Ron was considerably taller than the twins, the bigger threat remained with the elder brothers.

"Stop it you two. Hermione, have you met Ron?" Molly asked, suddenly realising the likelihood of her meeting Ron was unlikely.

"No I don't think so. Nice to meet you." She said, smiling warmly at Ron as he seemed to notice her for the first time. His striking blue eyes blinked a few times before answering.

"Yeah. You too. Now, you two get these things off me! They're really starting to itch." Ron whined, quickly turning his attention to the mucus now oozing out of his skin.

"Fine. Here, just take a sip of this and you'll be back to your 'normal' state." Fred said, throwing a small bottle that Ron caught and immediately took a gulp of. The mucus and boils seemed to disappear back into his skin leaving only red marks in their place. He sighed in relief and Ginny giggled before sipping more of her tea. Hermione gave him a sympathetic look, finishing off her tea to help Molly with washing up.

"Right, getting back to the topic of discussion. How is it George you know so much about Miss Granger here?" Fred asked. George sighed, clearly hoping the topic had dropped. Ginny couldn't help the small noise of amusement come out of her as Ron looked between George and Hermione. Something seemed to click in his brain and he sniggered, enjoying George's suffering.

"I'm sure he'd be able to answer if he wasn't so busy staring at Hermione's arse." Ginny announced, making Hermione nearly drop the plate she was drying and Molly flashed around. She saw where George's eyes were, despite how quickly he tried to hide it. She promptly stalked over to him, clipping him over the ear as Ron chuckled.

"I will not have you objectifying this poor girl while she's staying! Do you hear me?" She snapped, as George nurtured his ear. Hermione hesitantly turned around tucking some hair behind her ears with her cheeks aflame. "I do apologise Hermione. It seems the men in this house have forgotten their manners. Upstairs now George! And if I so much as see you glance inappropriately at her again I'll make sure your eyes will never look at any girl again! Understand?"

George winked at Hermione but hurried upstairs with Fred quickly following. Molly looked positively livid by this point and stormed up behind them, whether that was to shout at George or tell Arthur of their antics, no one knew. Ron glanced at Hermione laughing slightly to see her entire face the shade of his hair.

"I'm sure Hermione didn't mind that much." Ginny said under her breath, just loud enough for Hermione and Ron to hear. Ron continued chuckling and Hermione promptly glared at her.

"You're one to talk Miss Ginny Potter." Hermione replied, remembering Ginny mention how overprotective her brothers were. Ron in particular. Ginny quickly returned the glare before Ron's fist clenched.

"What was that?" He muttered, through gritted teeth. Ginny gave Hermione a desperate look, making her sigh.

"Nothing. Just Ginny had a minor obsession with Harry in my second year, its long finished with though." Hermione said, telling a slight white lie. It was clear to anyone who had eyes that Ginny was still infatuated with 'The Chosen One'. Hermione hoped that her explanation wouldn't lead to any violent outbursts from Ron. Seeing his expression unchanged she added, "It was unrequited. He was only twelve and nothing happened."

Once she saw his fist unclench, Ginny smiled at her thankfully.

"I'm just going to finish unpacking a bit more. It was a pleasure meeting you Ronald." Hermione said, feeling some tension in the air and headed upstairs.

"Unpacking, that's an innuendo I haven't heard before." Ginny shouted to Hermione, which she mentally remembered to get back at Ginny for later.

"Funny. Right, what's this about you and Harry Potter!" Ron snapped, presumably he wasn't going to let the 'Miss Ginny Potter' off so easily. Hermione had only just got to the first landing when a door was flung open and a hand dragged her inside the dark room. "Honestly George, there are more polite ways to get a girl into a room other than dragging her in."

She pushed him away as the door naturally closed behind her, crossing her arms.

"Sorry, I was going for the whole daring, mysterious type thing so many girls are into." He answered jokily, which failed to get a smile out of her.

"George, this whole stupid sneaking around thing was your idea wasn't it? Why are you making it blatantly obvious to anyone who's got a brain that there's something going on?" She asked agitated.

"Mum's reaction was too funny to resist honey." He whined, and she gave him a harsh look.

"How many times must I tell you to stop using those ridiculous pet names for me? And it was not funny in the slightest. She looked ready to rip you into a thousand pieces." She snapped back.

"Who cares? Dad's talking to her now so she will have calmed down by dinner. Anyway, I can't help it. It's not my fault you're too sexy for your own good." He smirked pulling her towards him by her hips. She unconsciously blushed and looked down at the ground embarrassed. He moved her hair to one side and placed a light kiss at the base of her neck making her flinch back.

"No, you want to act like nothing's going on. Then nothing will be going on." She snapped, and he sighed before smiling at her cheekily.

"Fine! You win. Tomorrow I'll tell everyone. Happy?" He asked, and she beamed at him.

"Oh, how ever will I thank you Mr Weasley?" She smiled seeing his expression.

"I can think of a few ways."

After a few minutes of passionate snogging, Hermione found herself on George's bed with their limbs tangled together. She worried if they kept going at the rate they were, she'd end up doing something she certainly wasn't ready for. She pulled away only to have his lips fall to her jaw and down her neck. His hand was resting on her waist underneath her t-shirt whilst the other was stroking the thigh of her leg draped across him.

"George." She managed to gasp out which he took as a pleasurable whimper since he moaned in response pushing his pelvis into her more. Her eyes widened feeling how excited he was. "How come I've never met your brother before?"

That made him stop. He pulled his head up and looked her in the eyes in disbelief.

"Hermione, you're seriously thinking about my brother when we're doing this?" He half joked, breathing heavily. She sighed, looking at the place her hand was on his neck.

"No I just…I'm not ready to go any further than this yet and I'm afraid if we continue without a break I'll-" She started rambling, and chewed her bottom lip before he lifted his hand up from her thigh to tuck her hair behind her ears.

"Hermione, it's okay. I understand. So, what'd you ask me again?" He said, with a reassuring smile.

"How come I've never met your brother before?" She repeated, with a small smile.

"Well he is the famous Slytherin Weasley." He replied, hoping that was enough of an answer.

"Oh." Was all Hermione seemed to be able to get out.

She'd heard about the Slytherin Weasley, she doubted there was anyone at Hogwarts who hadn't heard of him. But that was pretty much all anyone ever had heard about him. In his first year at Hogwarts, when the sorting hat was placed on his head, it was unnatural. The hat took nearly quarter of an hour to decide which house to put him in, and when it yelled "Slytherin!" there was not a sound from anyone. Someone from the wizarding world's most famous blood traitor families, had gone into the muggle born hating, Voldemort loving house.

If Hermione remembered correctly, he seemed just as confused as everyone else and it took him a few minutes before he managed to stand and hesitantly make his way towards the table where many of his enemies sat. The Great Hall was quiet for another few minutes until Professor McGonagall reluctantly called the next student up and the mumbling began. Rumours were the next day; his parents came in and complained that the Sorting Hat must have put him in the wrong house. Nothing about Ron Weasley said Slytherin at all. Dumbledore had admitted that whilst the Sorting Hat's choice was odd, it was final and there was nothing he could do. Another rumour was that he was taken out of school for a few weeks because of it and the Weasley's attempted to home school him. It wasn't possible though and he came back. His time at school went unnoticed though and soon the hype that surrounded his being in Slytherin died down as quickly as it began. He was never seen outside classes or meals, except for when he was seen with one of his siblings.

It seemed his presence was practically invisible until his third year when Sirius Black broke into the dungeons and allegedly attacked him. Later that same year, he was found in the hospital wing with a mangled leg from another attack by Sirius. He explained Sirius was after his rat who was actually an animagus of Peter Pettigrew. Although, the people who actually believed him seemed to only be his family, Harry, Hermione and Dumbledore. And the only reason Hermione believed him was after she saved Sirius with Harry. Once fourth year began, he went back to his invisible presence.

He never made any friends, classed as a blood traitor no one in his house was willing to go near him so they merely ignored him. Others weren't willing to befriend him for the mere fact he was a Slytherin and therefore evil. The only person who gave him any attention, aside from his family, was Harry on their very first train ride to Hogwarts. Harry remembered how Ron explained that Slytherin was the house of the enemy and was quickly confused as to why he was placed in it. When Ron didn't make any attempt to talk to Harry after his sorting, he assumed he wanted nothing to do with him and let him be.

"Hermione?" George said, breaking her train of thought and she looked up at him dazed.

"Yes, sorry. I was just thinking, since he's a Slytherin. He doesn't have any issues with me, does he?" Hermione asked nervously, twiddling a loose thread of George's shirt with her fingers.

"Merlin no! Hermione, he has nothing against muggleborns. We spent months trying to figure out why he was placed in that house but there seemed to be no explanation for it. He's never acted nor will he ever be a Slytherin." George said, and Hermione sighed in relief.

"Okay, I'm sorry I assumed. I wasn't sure, that's all." She replied, and smiled at him to show that she was fine.

"Stop apologising already." He joked, and pulled her closer to him as he lay back so half her body was on top of him.

"But there must be some kind of an explanation for it. I've never heard of the Sorting Hat placing someone in a house they didn't wish to be in. When Harry was being sorted he told me that the hat tried to sort him into Slytherin. He said he didn't want to be in it so it placed him in Gryffindor."

Hermione informed George, as an explanation to her confusion.

"Oh, I didn't know that." He replied slowly, not sure what to make of it. "Ron never wanted to be a Slytherin. I'm positive of it."

"I know. I'm simply worried there's some bigger reason for his being in Slytherin." She started twiddling the piece of thread again but George wrapped his fingers around her hand, stopping her. She glanced up into his eyes seeing a smile.

"Hermione, I think you've been hanging around with the likes of the Boy Who Lived for too long. Seriously, there's nothing behind it. It's been five years and nothing's happened. He's the same brother I've had for the past sixteen years." She looked into his comforting coffee brown eyes and smiled.

"All right." Hermione said, letting it drop and leant down softly kissing George. After all, it was probably nothing. Right?

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><p><strong>A:N I stand by what I said before, THIS IS A RON/HERMIONE STORY! It simply begins with George/Hermione for necessary reasons.**

**Huge shout out to Completely Sirius who beta-ed this chapter! Thank you so much for all your help.**

**Right now that's over, this idea's been flowing around in my head for around a year now. Believe me all I wanted to do in those months was write this down straight away, but I waited till a full, interesting plotline came to me and I'm so happy I've waited now.**

**I have finished about eighteen chapters out of a total thirty eight so I could have some sort of updating structure, so expect a new chapter every two weeks. If for some reason this alters, I will alert you all beforehand. **

**Thanks for reading and reviews are like the milk to my Oreo's.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=eKZsZkH_MJc**

**Take out the closed brackets and replace with full stops.**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 2

Wedding Bells?

"_We're a different pair_

_Do something out of step_

_Throw a stranger an unexpected smile_

_With big intention."_

_Headlock - Imogen Heap_

"Hermione, am I correct in thinking that your parents are muggles?" Arthur questioned, at the dinner table. He sat at the head of the table, with Molly at the other end and Hermione right next to him. Fred and George sat opposite Hermione and gave eachother an amused look before digging into their steak and kidney pies. Ginny groaned and took a large gulp of pumpkin juice. Ron continued ravaging into his pie, not hearing his father.

"Yes, they are." Hermione answered, and Ron looked up. He saw the looks on the rest of the Weasley's faces and instantly knew what the topic of conversation was.

"Dad, don't." Ginny begged, while Molly nervously glanced up at the family clock. Bill was due to arrive at any moment with his latest girlfriend and considering they were over an hour late, Molly was beyond restless. She had finally given into the family's demands of letting them start dinner without them, but she still had hope they would be arriving soon.

"I see. What Muggle profession do they have? May I ask?" Arthur asked politely, before taking a bite of mashed potatoes.

"Sevioubsly bon't ansder im!" Ron exclaimed, as Hermione looked over at him. She grimaced slightly, seeing him talk with his mouth full, currently wide open for the world to see the contents inside. "Voo'll be dere for bays till e's jud ub aboud id."

"Chew with your mouth closed and wait till you've finished eating to speak Ronald! How many times do I have to tell you?" Molly snapped, continuing to eat irritably.

It took Hermione a minute to understand his warning but she ignored it anyway, not wishing to appear rude.

"They're dentists. They tend to people's teeth." Hermione said, cutting up her pie into smaller pieces.

"Fascinating." Arthur gushed, and Ron snorted.

"No dad, it's really not." Fred started.

"Really, really not." George continued.

"Really, really, really, not."

"Really, really, really, really, not."

"We get the bloody idea already." Ron snapped, spooning out a second helping of mashed potatoes.

"Ron-" Molly began in a warning tone, but a distinctly loud crack from outside the front door made her rush over to open it. "Bill!"

Her arms flung around him and he grinned, wrapping his arms back around his mother.

"Hello mum. Sorry we're late; Fleur couldn't decide what to wear." Bill excused, pulling away as the blond half veela came into view. Fred and George's face positively beamed and they both looked at Ron, who had stopped eating the moment he heard her name.

"I wanted to make a good eempression." Fleur argued, and saw Molly's eyes go into a harsh look. She clearly did not think Fleur getting ready was a good enough reason to be over an hour late for a family dinner.

"Seems like she's already made a good impression on Ronniekins." Fred said, as Ron's ears turned the brightest shade of red known to man.

"You would have anyway darling. Fleur this is my mother, Molly. Otherwise known as the most amazing woman in the world." Bill introduced, which seemed to make up slightly for how late they had been.

Hermione however did notice that Molly preferred to shake Fleur's hand rather than engulf her into a hug like she would have given to anyone else. Bill, Fleur and Molly made their way to the table where Molly started setting up two extra places.

"Fleur this is Arthur, my dad. Fred and George, don't worry no one can tell the difference. Ginny, my sister. Ron and…I don't think I've met-" Bill acquainted, pointing to everyone and when he got to Hermione she turned her head back, about to introduce herself.

"'Ermione Granger!" Fleur exclaimed, as Hermione blinked several times perplexed. Everyone's eyes now turned to the two females.

"I'm sorry, have we-" Hermione started, distinctly remembering never meeting Fleur in her fourth year because of her mild hatred towards the girl and the effect she had on men.

"No, my good friend Viktor Krum has told me great zings about you!" Fleur continued, as Ron started coughing on his pumpkin juice.

"You know Viktor Krum!" He shouted excitedly at Hermione, and she looked at him like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Well I-not really. I spoke to him a few times but that was it." Hermione said, turning red.

"An understatement! 'e adored you." Fleur said smiling, only increasing the amount of red in Hermione's cheeks.

"Oh I umm," Hermione really didn't know how to respond so she continued blushing and looked over at George. She expected to see him looking like Fred was, holding back a laugh thinking of a million different things he could now mock her with. Instead he was staring down at his plate of food gripping his fork so tightly his knuckles were turning white. She gave him a confused look before turning back to Fleur. "I haven't spoken to him in years. I'm surprised he still remembers me."

"Ha! He spent virtually the entire year following you around like a lost puppy trying to get some attention! Then he proceeded to try and steal you from me at the Yule Ball! Stupid idiot."

Everyone seemed to have the same jaw dropped expression at George's outburst. Despite him saying it in a joking manner it was clear he was jealous.

"George, are you quite all right dear?" Molly asked him, concerned as he continued chuckling to himself. Hermione shrunk in her seat.

"Never better. Can't believe that prat still thinks he could get my girlfriend." He joked, and Hermione let out a silent groan. When he agreed to tell his parents of their relationship, she had hoped it would be in a way where they could do it together. They could have had a conversation about it until Molly and Arthur gave them their blessing and Hermione would no longer worry about their acceptance. She should have known that nothing would be so simple.

Fred started chuckling quietly, something George chose to ignore as Arthur and Molly looked at eachother just as clueless as the other. Ron looked like he was having a difficult time to stop from bursting out into fits of laughter, similar to Ginny. Bill looked pleasantly surprised and Fleur stood with furrowed eyebrows, not entirely sure what was going on.

"Urr George, correct me if I'm wrong but are you telling us that Hermione is-" Arthur began, after a few minutes of awkward silence.

"-Yes. I am. I'm terribly sorry Mr Weasley for you to find out like this. I was hoping we could have had a conversation about it after dinner but-" Hermione apologised frantically, but stopped hearing Molly burst out into tears. Molly hurried over to Hermione and took her in her arms sobbing into her shoulder. Ron and Ginny had now given up on holding their laughter in and were roaring with laughter in their chairs. Fred soon joined in with them and George looked considerably less angered now.

"I'm just so happy for Georgie! I was so worried he'd never settle down with his immature behaviour and become another Charlie. But no! He's found a wonderful intelligent girl that can set him on the right path. Thank you dear!" Molly was holding Hermione so tight that she was finding it difficult to breathe, let alone take in the words of praise she was being given.

"Why thank you Mrs Weasley. I'm glad you're so happy for us." Hermione said, patting her back looking hesitantly at George who was smirking giving her an expression that read 'I told you so'.

"Oh you'll make the most perfect daughter in law! Let me go upstairs and find my old wedding photos." She flew upstairs leaving a shocked Hermione standing up with seven pairs of eyes on her.

"Bill, why didn't your mother respond like zat weeth me?" Fleur asked, slightly hurt.

* * *

><p>"Hermione and I are not getting married." George stated, for the tenth time an hour later. The Weasley's, Fleur and Hermione were now all sat in the living room. Bill had an arm around Fleur's shoulders, who still looked upset that Molly was far more interested in George and Hermione's relationship. Arthur was reading the Daily Prophet in the armchair drifting in and out of sleep. Ron and Ginny were at the coffee table playing a game of Wizard's Chess that Ron was already winning, five minutes into playing. Fred and George sat opposite Hermione and Molly, who had been showing Hermione wedding photos for the past half an hour.<p>

"I'm sorry Mrs Weasley but it hasn't even crossed our minds. I'm still underage and to be honest I always wanted to start a career before getting married." Hermione explained, not wanting to hurt Molly's feelings too much.

"Nonsense dear, you'll be of age next month. I've been told." Molly said, brushing her off and turned to the next page. Hermione chewed her bottom lip before deciding to take a more firm approach.

"Mrs Weasley please, we're not even engaged. We haven't even discussed marriage. And we won't be having that talk for at least another few years. That's if we're even together by then."

"Why? What has he done?" Molly snapped, and Hermione blinked.

"Oh nothing, I was speaking in hypo-"

"Has he been pressuring you? George! How dare you try to take this girl's purity!" Molly stood up now and pointed an accusing finger at George who remained grinning. Ron and Ginny started sniggering as Arthur woke up abruptly.

"No! He hasn't! We haven't done anything!" Hermione exclaimed, not entirely sure what Molly could resort to if she suspected her son doing anything (apart from kissing) outside of marriage.

"Poor Georgie. An eighteen year old charming wizard not getting any from his girlfriend? Tragic!" Fred shouted dramatically, as Ginny laughed and Ron remained quiet with his ears turning pink.

"And you better hope the same is happening with you Fred before I castrate you!" Molly virtually bellowed, instantly silencing everyone else in the house. Even Fred knew not to push it any further if he wanted to keep his manhood safely intact.

"Well, even though George isn't getting married mum, one of your son's is." Bill announced, standing up with his hand interlaced with Fleur's. She held up her left hand where a small, pretty engagement ring rested on her finger.

All the men stood up congratulating Bill with a one armed hug or a pat on the back. They then gave Fleur a friendly hug and a peck on the cheek (aside from Ron who chose to sit back down before he did anything embarrassing). The women remained exactly how they were, all thinking the same thought, 'What on Godric's grave was Bill thinking?'

After that, Bill's announcement lead to a discussion about his wedding rather than George's. Molly started showing Fleur the same wedding photos that she had shown Hermione but with visible less enthusiasm. Hermione was sat on the sofa with Ginny talking about how immaculate and grand the wedding would be. George plopped down beside Hermione and rested his hand on her knee which went unnoticed.

"Do you reckon she'll have the vows in French? That way we might be able to understand her if she had a translator." Ginny said, and Hermione sniggered, as George's hand drifted up her leg a few inches. Ron, who had remained rather quiet since the wedding announcement, looked up from reading his Quidditch magazine.

"Doubt it. She'll probably have the vows sung by a famous French singer we've never heard of." Hermione answered, and Ginny giggled. George's hand was now dangerously high up so Hermione swatted it away not giving him a glance, making Ron chuckle.

"Problem Hermione?" George asked, and she turned to look at him.

"George, don't. Your parents are only a foot away and not to mention the fact I'm having a conversation with your sister. How would you like it if I started straddling you while you were having a conversation?" She realised once she asked the question it was painfully obvious that he actually wouldn't mind in the slightest. "Ugh forget it. You're just trying to prove a point to Fred anyway."

"She's caught you out George." Ron said joyfully.

"Oh Ronnie. You're just jealous that by your age I had already had sex when you still haven't had the opportunity to snog a girl." George said, as Ron's face, neck and ears turned a beetroot red. Hermione glanced between George and Ron before speaking up.

"That's not something to be proud of George."

George looked back at Hermione with raised eyebrows and Ginny thought it best to join in the conversation her parents were having with Bill and Fleur. Even a conversation with Fleur was better than having to listen to her brother's sex lives.

"How?" George asked, genuinely curious about her answer. The colour in Ron's face, neck and ears had died down slightly now.

"Well, you chose to do something at the first opportunity you'd been given, rather than waiting for the right person at the right time. It's been proven that sex is better if it's with a person you're in love with. I don't want to offend you but I doubt your experience was all that amazing considering you felt nothing more for this girl then lust. I happen to think it's nice you're brother wants to wait for the right person." Hermione explained, feeling a slight twinge of hurt that George wasn't more sensitive about the issue.

"Yes but Ronnie is waiting out of no option, not by choice." George said, and Hermione looked at Ron who had turned red again.

"Just because that's how you perceive it to be doesn't mean it's true. But I'm glad to have found out how meaningless sex is for you George." Hermione snapped, and stood up. She abruptly stormed upstairs and went into Ginny's room.

It only took a few minutes for George to appear with a guilty expression. He sat down next to her as she started twiddling her thumbs in her lap.

"I'm sorry Hermione. I didn't mean it to sound like that." He said, hesitantly taking one of her hands in his. "I just sometimes forget how much younger you are than me because of your intelligence and maturity. It makes me forget that you haven't experienced these things yet. I mean, I'm not going to lie. It used to be just a bit of meaningless fun for me. But I really care about you and I don't want to mess this up."

She sniffed looking up at him as his thumb started stroking the back of her palm.

"You know George. Sometimes I wonder why we're even together, but then you go and say stuff like that. It makes it very difficult for me to be angry at you when I know I should be." She disclosed. He grinned cheekily and brushed the hair out of her eyes.

"It's the good old Weasley twin charm." He winked and she smiled despite her protests. He leant forward placing his lips on hers in a tender way before Ginny's door was opened. They broke apart to see Arthur with a relieved expression on his features, from only walking in on some kissing.

"Your mother's set up a new rule that whenever you two are in a room together alone, the door's got to be open." Arthur declared, and Hermione blushed shifting further away from George.

"Seriously, dad. I'm not fifteen anymore, me and Fred could move out any day now." George threatened, only making Arthur chuckle.

"George, don't be unfair. This is your parent's house and they're perfectly within their rights to set up, in my opinion, a very reasonable rule . Would you be thinking differently if this rule was concerning Ginny?" She smiled seeing him give her an annoyed look but remained silent.

"No wonder Molly loves you already Hermione. You've managed to keep him silent." Arthur said, and Hermione laughed standing up.

"Believe me; it's taken all this time to do it."

* * *

><p>When Arthur later spoke to Molly about what he had walked in upon, Molly made sure that George and Hermione barely spent ten seconds with each other before giving them a chore to keep them preoccupied. It was for this reason that Hermione found herself walking out into the Burrow's back garden to help Ron de-gnome it, the next day. She discovered him throwing the last gnome into a nearby field and was glad since she'd never come across a gnome before.<p>

"Let me guess, mum sent you out here to de-gnome the garden forgetting she already asked me an hour ago?" Ron asked, as Hermione approached him and she nodded. He sniggered and she smiled. "Yeah. She doesn't seem to like the idea of you and George being alone much."

"Clearly. I can't say I blame her though, no doubt my mother would do the same." She replied, and Ron sat down on the grass to lean against the fence. There were a few moments of silence before Hermione spoke up, "Shouldn't we be getting back inside?"

"What? And get another chore? I don't think so." Ron said. Any other time, Hermione would have reprimanded him about how he should have been helping his mum. However, Hermione herself was starting to get sick of it and thought she deserved a five minute break. She sat down on the grass next to Ron cross legged, figuring this would be a good opportunity to get to know George's most mysterious brother.

The only problem being she had no idea where to begin. No doubt he didn't want to talk about his being put in Slytherin which essentially was all she knew about him.

"So if you don't mind me asking, how did you and George get together? You don't seem to be a match made in heaven, no offence." Ron said, and Hermione held back in correcting his grammar mistakes.

"I suppose we were together when he asked me to the Yule Ball. It wasn't official though until last year." She answered dully, having been asked that question more times than she cared for.

"Why'd he ask you?"

Hermione thought his question was rather rude but held her tongue again.

"I'd like to say because he wanted to. It was actually a bet." She said, with a small smile knowing the reaction she was about to receive.

"What?" Ron said, blatantly not hearing this story before.

"Fred and George were going through their 'Guess which of us is Fred or George' phase. I said I could tell the difference between them. They bet if I got it right, George would take me to the ball, if I got it wrong, I would write their Potions essays. I was correct so that was that. I actually can't remember why I even agreed to the bet."

She opted not to tell Ron that the real reason she accepted was that she had a mild crush on George. When she had admitted to George that was the reason, he had embarrassed her endlessly for it and she wasn't sure if Ron would do the same.

"Huh. You're probably one of the only people I know who can tell the difference between them. How'd you do it?" Ron asked, genuinely impressed.

"Quite simple really. Fred is more of the joker out of the two. More often than not, he'll cross the line of joking to where it actually hurts someone's feelings. He also seems to get more girlfriends then George which I never understood. George is the slightly more caring one and you can see that if you look hard enough. I guess I was the first girl who really tried." Hermione felt a slight blush appear in her cheeks at her admission, momentarily forgetting this was George's brother she was speaking too.

"I can see why people say you're the smartest witch at Hogwarts. It took me years to work that out." Ron said, and Hermione looked over at him. He was staring off into the distance and she took the time to study him.

It was clear that Ron resembled his father more than his mother, unlike George. His hair was longer, reaching his ears and had more of a red tinge to the ginger colour. His freckles, while noticeable, weren't too prominent against his pale white skin and appeared in clusters rather than being all over. He was incredibly tall, Hermione had noticed that he was virtually Bill's height. He hadn't lost that boyish look about him though so he was a bit lanky. What Hermione noticed most about him were his eyes. It was strange that she should notice them when he had other much more noticeable features. His eyes were the brightest blue she'd ever seen. They seemed to absorb all the colour around him and radiate this cerulean colour in return. She saw them blink slowly and then they looked into hers.

She swallowed and smiled at him, unaware of her staring. She asked, "Why did it take you years?"

Ron swallowed and straightened up his sitting position against the fence.

"Well, since I'm the youngest brother, Fred and George tended to pick on me a lot. I was about seven, and Fred went a bit too far. George apologised for him and explained it was a big brother kind of thing, that they never would intentionally hurt me as much as they did. It sort of stuck with me ever since." Ron stared down at his lap with a gentle smile before clearing his throat uncomfortably. It was obvious he felt awkward about sharing so much with someone he barely knew.

"Sounds like George. I don't know why he doesn't like showing how caring he can be." Hermione said, sounding irritated about it.

"Probably because Fred would never let him live it down." Ron replied, and Hermione laughed in agreement. He looked over at her and smiled. She uncrossed her legs and laid them out in front of her, straightening out her crinkled jeans.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes. Hermione looked out at the endless amount of green fields feeling incredibly serene. She cherished the feeling, knowing there wouldn't be many moments like it in the future. The wind picked up, rustling the leaves in the trees and she sat up straight pulling a few hair bands out her pocket. She quickly put her hair up in a messy bun, knowing if she let it remain out it'd turn into an inconceivable amount of knots and tangles.

Once done, she let her hands fall into her lap and gazed around her.

"I do love it here." She admitted, her eyes lingering on the Burrow.

"Really? I always thought there wasn't much to it." Ron argued, looking at the house trying to see it in a way that would make her say something like that.

"It's got such warmth to it. Something of a rarity these days." She commented, looking down at the grass feeling a dull ache in her chest. This feeling had almost been permanent in Hermione ever since the Department of Mysteries. When Dolohov's curse hit her in the chest, it had been excruciatingly painful at the time so it was inevitable it should scar. The scar was visible but it seemed to have an after effect that left a pain within her that wouldn't leave.

She unconsciously pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, like she was trying to hold herself together.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to be so pessimistic." She apologised, not wanting to ruin the mood.

"It's fine. I mean, it's not. But you know, I guess your life must be harder than it seems." Ron replied, and she looked over at him mildly surprised.

"What makes you think that?" She asked, wondering what his answer would be rather than wanting to see if it was correct. He awkwardly scratched behind his ear and swallowed, trying to think of a good explanation.

"Like, the papers glamorize it a bit saying how wonderful it must be to be Harry Potter's best friend. But I doubt it's as brilliant as they make it out to be. I've heard he's got no one apart from you. Sure that's hard on him, but to be the only person that holds another together. It must get tough." Ron explained. He had spent the past few years with a lot of time alone with his thoughts. He knew at school he was not who he was at home and didn't have any friends. After all, who would want to get to know a blood traitor in a house where they took their blood purity in their stride? Over the years, he had become well aware of how depressed he was. It was for that reason he didn't attempt to make friends. He didn't know anyone personally with much depression in their lives but had worked out Harry Potter must have, with all of his history.

When he heard Harry Potter's best friend was becoming a regular topic with Fred and George, he learnt a lot about Hermione, without her knowledge. One of these things was that George occasionally worried if she carried too much on her shoulders. He never spent long caring about this though, referring to her work load rather than her friendship with Harry. However, when Ron misinterpreted it, he thought it over and came to the conclusion he had just voiced. Through this conclusion, he knew he would never want to be that kind of burden to someone. If that meant he had to suffer a few years then so be it.

Hermione wasn't sure how to react. It was strange. She'd only known this boy for a day, yet she felt like he had understood her better than anyone else had in a long time. She selfishly wished in her mind for Harry to be as close to her with someone else as well, so she would have time to herself every once in awhile. It was for that reason she was so thankful he accepted her relationship with George. It gave her that little bit of freedom to focus on herself. Everyone needed some time to themselves and she had been at her breaking point by her fourth year.

She swallowed down the lump in her throat and moistened her dry lips.

"I don't think George gives you enough credit." Hermione proclaimed, and Ron's head snapped in her direction with a baffled expression. "All he's said to me is you're his slightly unintelligent immature younger brother. You must have some maturity to be able to tell all that about me in a few minutes of talking to me."

The tips of Ron's ears turned red at her compliment and he grinned lopsidedly. He didn't think his observation was that brilliant. He noticed her smile at him.

"Well, he's right. Most of the time I'm a complete idiot." He said.

"I highly doubt that." She said with disapproval, sensing his low opinion of himself.

"Yeah well, you're catching Ron Weasley on one of his rare, deep, emotional days. You should count yourself lucky." He remarked jokily, and she laughed.

"Believe me, I do." She commented, sincerely. They looked at eachother both laughing softly and held each other's gaze a second too long. She broke the stare first and looked ahead again.

"Hey, you're a prefect right?" He asked, out of the blue.

"Yes, why'd you ask?" She answered, and looked back at him.

"Well I am as well, and in our Hogwarts letters it said they were pairing us up with people in different houses to promote 'inter-house community' or some bullshit."

She frowned hearing his language and he chuckled.

"Oh yeah. George told me about your dislike of bad language." He remembered, looking at her with an amused expression.

"I don't see the need for it. There's a wide range of vocabulary perfectly acceptable to use instead to emphasize a point." She said in a bored tone, sounding as if she'd given her side of this argument many times before.

"It'd probably take twice as long though." He defended back.

"I suppose it could but it's not a very pleasant use of language." She retorted.

"It's not like it's a crime." He grumbled.

"I'm well aware of that fact. It's rather pointless, that's all I'm saying." She snapped, not liking his tone.

"That's half my dictionary falling off a broom then." He attempted to joke, earning nothing but a slightly cold look.

"Maybe you should consider using a proper dictionary to prevent a thing like that from happening." She muttered.

"Now where's the fun in that?" This second attempt of a joke proved just as unsuccessful as the first. It was possibly more of a failure since she glared at him now.

"If life was meant to revolve around the idea of 'fun' then people would be accomplishing very little in their lives."

"Let me guess your idea of fun, could it be reading a dictionary?" He snapped sarcastically. She was starting to get on his nerves now and he wondered if he should have been so sympathetic towards her.

"I'm beginning to see what George meant now by your immaturity."

"He's not exactly the most mature person in the world." He grunted childishly.

"I admit he might not be, but that doesn't mean _you _have to be like that." She insinuated.

"There you are!" George announced, and their heads flashed in his direction. He strode over towards them and grinned at Hermione before collapsing next to her on his back, pulling her on top of him.

"George!" She snapped angrily, and swatted him on the chest in an attempt to unwrap his arms. He only laughed and wrapped them tighter around her oblivious to Ron's bemused expression. She felt her anger gradually slip away and sighed. "Is this really necessary?"

"Yes, because thanks to mine and Ronniekin's mother she won't allow me within ten feet of you." George replied, and pecked her nose. She attempted to push herself off him but his arms were holding her in a vice like grip.

"I understand, but you know I don't like public displays of affection. They're unnecessary and impersonal."

"Fine. Ron, bugger off."

"George!"

"It's all right. I was going to go in anyways." Ron said, standing up and brushed his clothes off.

"Now, look what you did George. Your brother and I were having a perfectly nice conversation." She snapped, and gave Ron a look that meant he would pay if he said differently. He gave her that lopsided grin again and shook his head in disbelief, before strolling towards the house.

"Sounded like you were arguing about a dictionary, if you ask me." George said sniggering, and she gave him an accusing look, wondering how much of their conversation he had heard.

"Well, that wasn't the entire conversation. We weren't arguing either. It was more of a quarrel." She replied hotly.

"Who cares? Oh look we're alone now."

He tilted his head up, trying to kiss her but she used the opportunity to push herself up onto her feet.

"Now that was uncalled for." He moaned, and she twiddled her fingers at him in a wave before dashing into the Burrow, laughing away. He quickly ran after her and caught up as she burst through the front door. He grabbed the back of her shirt pulling her back to him and wrapped his arms around her waist lifting her up.

"George! Put me down!" Hermione screamed, still laughing, squirming in his grip.

"Explain to me why I should and I may consider it." He replied, only making her squirm even more.

"George! I'm serious, put me down!" She snapped, sounding serious.

"I'm not falling for it Hermione." He replied, still sniggering.

"George. Your entire family is staring at us."

That made him drop her. Literally. She stumbled slightly from the fall but managed to steady her feet. Sure enough, the entire Weasley clan (as well as Fleur) were staring at them all with a similar amused expression. Hermione smiled shyly, her cheeks turning pink and was about to go upstairs into Ginny's room only to have George's arm wrap around her shoulders. He pulled her against him and kissed her sloppily on the cheek. She grimaced and pushed him away annoyed.

"George, stop it! I told you two minutes ago! I don't like public displays of affection!" She snapped, crossing her arms.

"Come on, you're only saying that because you're embarrassed. Trust me, they've seen worse." He replied, chuckling.

"That's not the point and you know it. The point is you completely disregarded my feelings on the subject."

"Alright, okay, I'm sorry. We good now?"

She sighed angrily, forgetting they weren't alone and nearly shouted, "Don't do that!"

"Do what?" He asked, feigning innocence which resulted in her getting even more riled up.

"Apologise without meaning it!" She was shouting now and the Weasley's looked at each other awkwardly. "You do that all the time and I'm sick of it!"

"Merlin, where's this coming from all of a sudden? Ten seconds ago you were fine." He snapped, getting annoyed now. Molly, Fleur and Ginny exchanged a look that they all knew this was not a good answer.

"Well ten seconds ago you didn't disregard my values!"

Bill, Fred and Ron shared a mutual expression and they hastily went upstairs into Bill's room. Most people would have thought this was to give George and Hermione some privacy. However, they stopped in Fred and George's room on the way and were putting the Extendable Ears to good use.

"And having a dislike for public displays of affection is a serious value?" George argued, and Bill shook his head.

"What's wrong with saying that?" Ron asked confused. George's comment didn't sound _that_ bad.

"Take this from a guy who's been in many relationships. In an argument, never question their motives unless you want a death wish." Bill explained.

"This may be a shock to you George, but just because you don't think of something as being serious doesn't mean I don't! Like many people would view their final exams as being important but _you_ decided they clearly weren't!" They heard her shout so loud they probably could have heard her without the aid of the ear.

"Ouch. Sounds like George has hit a sensitive spot." Ron commented, as the other two boys nodded slowly. They heard multiple footsteps on the staircase and assumed Ginny, Fleur, Molly and Arthur had managed to escape discreetly.

"Don't pull that on me, I'm repeating the year to take them. You know that!" George shouted, back at an equal level to her.

"Wait, what? George is voluntarily going back to school?" Bill asked, evidently not hearing about this before.

"Yeah, they wouldn't let us just take the exams, said we had to repeat the year." Fred quickly explained, wanting to hear the rest of the screaming match.

"Why doesn't he not do them then?" Ron asked, confounded.

"Only because I practically had to force you to go back!" She roared, answering Ron's question for him.

"Which I still have trouble understanding. You know what my plans are and that I don't need them for it!" He yelled furious.

"Excuse me for wanting you to have a bit of a back up option George. And you are well aware that I want you to go back so I can be with you more as well as for you to take your exams!"

"Why have you brought all of this up? Do you want to have a go at me for doing something for you?"

"How dare you! It's hardly doing something for me when I begged you to do it!"

"It's not like you're returning the favour, is it?"

"That's a lie!"

"Please explain to me then, what you have done for me?"

"Fine! How about the fact last year, I let you get away with breaking a thousand school rules? Or that I covered for you a million times with teachers! Or that I gave up being a friend to Viktor for you! What about me going to every single one of your Quidditch matches even though I don't like it? What about the endless amounts of teasing and mocking from you I put up with? And let's not forget the most recent event, where I came to your house to stay for two weeks in the summer, so I've only seen my parents for a month this year! Then you even had the nerve not to tell me that we would have to keep our relationship a secret! I had to learn about it from your sister!" Hermione screamed all of this so loud she felt her throat ache and swallowed, taking a few deep breaths. She looked at him with glassy eyes to see a guilty shocked expression that made her sigh. "And what hurts me the most about all of those things is not because I've done them for you. I'd never regret that. It's because you hadn't even noticed till this moment I pointed them out."

She looked down at the ground trying to hide the tears falling from her eyes. He noticed anyway and took a step towards her.

"Hermione-" He started softly, and she took a step back glaring at him.

"Don't!" She snapped, and backed away till she hit the back door. "Just…leave me alone."

Fred, Bill and Ron all shared a similar guilty expression, small parts of them wishing they left their curiosity alone.

* * *

><p><strong>A:N Oh yes, your eyes don't deceive you! This is a week earlier than planned, but thanks to vlaovic's review they pointed out how long it would be for the story to finish if I updated every two weeks so I've changed my mind and am going to update weekly instead :P**

**So a bit of a fight. I thought George could get quite angry; he's got the same Weasley temper as the rest of them hasn't he? **

**And of course Ron and Hermione's first conversation would involve a slight bickering! They would not be R/Hr otherwise.**

**I think I managed to thank everyone singularly who reviewed last time. Also thanks to KING, Romione4ever, person (genius name by the way :P) and Sandrinha!**

**Sandrinha actually raised a few good points I thought I'd address here since I expect a fair few other people were wondering about. **

**-The first is relating to George's and Hermione's physical relationship. Now, have no fear my dear Ron/Hermione fans, you'll never have to read much about it. There should only be two other situations where you read about that aspect of their relationship, BUT these are sort of Ron/Hermione moments. Obviously, it'll make more sense when you read it but I just didn't want anyone to worry about those moments coming up in the future. **

**-The second is about making Ron seem immature and childish compared to Hermione. You have no reason to fear here. I am a fierce, dedicated Ron lover. He is my absolute favourite character in literature, not just in Harry Potter. I constantly defend him and I'd never resort to the tactics that some people do of making Hermione seem completely perfect compared to him. I absolutely adore the bloke! And this story would have been in his POV but it wouldn't have worked the way I wanted.**

**-SANDRINHA, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I'm sorry but I was so happy to find that someone was glad that I kept Ron's personality the same. I actually got this idea after the vast amount of fics there are of Ron being in Slytherin but having his personality completely altered. I just never saw the point in it since you could make an equally interesting story with him in Slytherin without him becoming a Malfoy wannabe.**

**-Hopefully this chapter touched on it but Ron is still going to be an insecure guy. Obviously I'll go into greater detail why as the story continues so your assumption about that wasn't correct :P  
><strong>

**That's all I wanted to say really. But if any of you wanted to wish me a Happy Birthday in a review that'd be great :P It's tomorrow (22****nd****) woo!**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=FkFB8f8bzbY**

**Copy, paste and replace the closed brackets with fullstops. **

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 3

There's Sex, Then Sexy

"_I don't know you but I want you_

_All the more for that_

_Words fall through me and always fool me_

_And I can't react."_

_Falling Slowly - Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova_

"So, have you forgiven me yet?" George asked jokily, as Hermione brushed past him in the kitchen. She had successfully been ignoring him ever since their fight, which had been exactly a day ago at that point in time. George had respected her wishes for him to leave her alone for a good five minutes before he found her in the back garden, sobbing her heart out. She had sensed his presence immediately and responded by dashing in the Burrow to Ginny's room. Ginny joined her an hour later, rambling about how much of an arsehole her brother could be and did the job of taking Hermione's mind off the fight afterwards.

Once she had a few hours sleep, Hermione had spent the day in Ginny's room reading her Charms and Potions books. She hadn't realised how much time had passed until she glanced at the clock and heard her stomach rumble, hence the reason she was now in the kitchen.

She flashed George a pointed look while making herself a bacon sandwich.

"I know it's you Fred. And don't push me." She snapped, placing the sandwich on a plate and carried it over to the table.

"Ah yes, I'd forgotten you could always tell the difference between us. Seems like my plan of pretending to be George to get into your-"

"Fred!"

"-trunk to plant some dung bombs has gone up in smoke." Fred gave her a cheeky grin as she sat herself down.

"Don't treat me like an idiot. I knew what you were actually going to say." Hermione snapped, and took out her anger by biting into her sandwich. She grimaced, tasting it was overdone; she never knew how to work her way around the kitchen.

"I wasn't going to accuse you of thinking differently Granger. No need to take your anger out on me when it should be my twin."

"Then why did you cleverly attempt to be him when you walked in the room?"

Before Fred could reply, Ron had burst into the room with excitement in his eyes.

"Ah yes. Ronniekin's smelt bacon and had to come seek it out immediately." Fred turned on his heel and headed upstairs before Ron could shout some obscenities at him.

"You can have it if you want. It's burnt though." Hermione said, standing up about to throw it away. When she saw Ron hurry over with his eyes gleaming however, she placed it back on the table. He plopped down in a seat and dug into it, not noticing how burnt the bacon was.

She started pouring out herself some pumpkin juice and was about to ask Ron if he wanted a glass too hear, "Coubn'd bor me won coub oou?"

She guessed he wanted one and poured one out. She brought his drink over to him and sat herself down. She took a sip to see Ron lean back in his chair with an empty plate.

"Someone was hungry." She commented, and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Not particularly." She gave him a slightly incredulous look before drinking some more of her drink. Then a thought struck her. "I've been meaning to ask you, what did you want to ask me yesterday about being a prefect? We kind of got distracted."

Ron snorted. "Don't you mean _you_ got distracted by my brother."

"No, because we went off on that tangent about dictionaries." She reminded him.

"Oh yeah." He said, slowly remembering.

"So, what was it?" She asked.

"What was what?" He asked back, looking at her confused. She couldn't hold back rolling her eyes.

"What were you going to ask me about being a prefect?"

"Oh right, yeah." He said embarrassed, as his ears went red. "Well, cause of the whole inter house community thing, I thought maybe we could pair up or something. To be honest, I'd rather be with someone I sort of know then …what's his name in Hufflepuff? You know... the guy that's got his head so far up his own arse that he could probably see out his mouth." Hermione frowned at the mental image she got from Ron's strange metaphor, which made him snigger.

"Do you have to use language like that? And I think you mean Zacharias Smith." She answered, still feeling slightly disgusted by the metaphor.

"Yeah that's it, so yeah, you want to pair up?" He asked casually, and took a sip of his drink.

"Only, if you try not to swear as much."

"I wouldn't really count 'bloody' and 'arse' as swear words." Seeing the look she shot him he quickly added, "But I'll _try _not to."

"Then it's a deal."

They smiled at eachother and both finished their drinks as Molly and Arthur stumbled through the front door.

"See Molly, the house is fine. I don't know what you were worrying about. We were only gone an hour." Arthur said, as they placed their coats and hats on the hooks by the door.

"Yes, but you never know with Fred and George. At least we managed to get the money out quickly." Molly replied, and made her way into the kitchen to start preparing dinner.

"Was it busy at Gringott's mum?" Ron asked, mainly wanting to know how many hand-me-downs he would be needing this year.

"Fairly busy. And don't worry. We'll be able to buy you new robes this year. I can't believe you've outgrown Bill's now. Oh Hermione dear, you don't have all of your school things already, do you? I'm afraid you'll have to come with us either way since everyone's going to Diagon Alley tomorrow." Molly explained, as she got out various cooking equipment.

"It's fine Mrs Weasley. I still need a few more books. I was wondering, if it would be okay, if I met up with Harry tomorrow as well? I haven't seen him all summer and he told me he was going tomorrow with Hagrid-"

"Of course dear! He's welcome to come back for dinner if you want. Any friend of yours is a friend of ours." Molly insisted, and Hermione blushed, feeling slightly overwhelmed by how accepted she was in the Weasley family.

"I'm sure he'd love too. He's never liked it much at the Dursley's." She said optimistically.

"Doubt he'll like it here much, he's going to have put up with Ginny's staring all night." Ron included, and Hermione laughed slightly.

"He's used to it now. After all it has been five years. She's not nearly as bad as Moaning Myrtle." She commented, remembering how the ghost fawned over him in their second year.

"Who's Moaning Myrtle?" Ron asked confused.

"She's the ghost that haunts the second floor girl's bathroom. She's obsessed with him, she told him, 'When you die your welcome to share my toilet'." Hermione giggled afterwards reminiscing and Ron sniggered.

"Now, how could he resist that?" Ron joked, and Hermione couldn't help but laugh even more. Molly turned her head away from cutting some carrots and looked between the two teenagers with a knowing smile. She quickly disguised it as a small laugh when Ron glanced at her.

"Would you like some help Mrs Weasley?" Hermione asked, quickly remembering her manners.

"Thank you, Hermione. Could you set up the table? Ron-"

"Yes I'll help." He interjected, knowing the rest of her question. Molly smiled appreciatively at her son while Hermione placed a tablecloth on the table. Ron got out the place mats and set them up in front of the chairs. "Hang on, what were you and Harry both doing in that bathroom in the first place?"

"Oh, well I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you. We were brewing Polyjuice Potion for Harry; we thought Draco Malfoy might have been responsible for opening the chamber of secrets. We wanted to question him about it so it was the only option really." Hermione explained, figuring after three years it couldn't do any harm for one more person to know.

"What's Polyjuice Potion?" Ron asked, with furrowed eyebrows and tried not to be embarrassed about, yet again, not knowing something.

"It will transform you into anyone you want for about an hour." Hermione explained briefly, and flattened out the creases in the cloth.

"Wicked. Who'd you turn into then?" Ron asked, placing the last mat at the head of the table.

"Well, for the potion you have to have a bit of that person to turn into them. I thought I plucked a strand of Millicent Bulstrode's hair off her robes but it was actually cat hair." Hermione said, momentarily forgetting who she was talking to.

Ron instantly burst out laughing and Hermione glared at him. _Might as well kill two birds with one stone,_ she thought and continued, "The potion wasn't meant for animals so I turned into half a cat. Basically I had fur, cat eyes and a tail."

"Stop it! I'm going to die from laughter." Ron begged, nearly collapsing to the ground he was laughing so hard. Hermione gave him another glare, not caring how she would have reacted in a similar way if Ron had told her the story. She put the cutlery in their places for two people and realised Ron was now sitting in a chair, tears in his eyes. He tried to calm himself down and his laughter died for a second. He took one look at Hermione, imagined her as a cat, and the fits of laughter exploded out of him. This time around, he did actually fall to the ground with a crash as Hermione snickered quietly.

Molly tutted disapprovingly, seeing her son lying on the floor shaking with his hysterics. She did nothing to stop him and continued on with the dinner, doing her best to ignore him. This proved to be more difficult than she anticipated because it took Ron ten minutes to stop laughing at Hermione.

When he had stopped and stood up, he saw Hermione scowling at him.

"Are you quite finished now? I would have been able to understand a few minutes of you laughing at my expense but seriously, a quarter of an hour?" She snapped irritably.

"Like you wouldn't laugh at someone if they told you that story." Ron replied, wiping away his tears.

"What story?" George asked, walking in from the staircase with Fred by his side. Hermione whipped her head around to him but hastily looked in a different direction.

"When she… she… turned into a cat." Ron had trouble saying this while trying to hold back his laughter, resulting in him snorting a lot.

"And apparently you're turning into a pig." Fred said, grinning.

"Not that you weren't one before." George finished. He turned his gaze to the back of Hermione's head and stepped towards her. "Hermione, can I talk to you in private?"

She sighed and debated her options for a second before replying curtly, "Fine."

They walked upstairs and went into George's room since Ginny was in hers. Hermione coughed slightly from the after smell of many potions and explosions entering it. She waited for him to speak but he stood there, staring at her.

"What did you want? Could you not have stared at me downstairs?" Hermione snapped, placing her hands on her hips. She was hardly ready to even consider forgiving him yet and wondered why he was bothering after such a short amount of time. He should know her well enough by now to understand she would want some space.

"Look, I'm sorry." George apologised, sounding defeated. "I shouldn't have said what I did. I'm sorry I haven't noticed all the things you've done for me. It's just, and I'm not saying this as an excuse, but my head wasn't right last year. You know, with what happened to dad."

Hermione let her hands drop and she bit her lip guiltily. She'd completely disregarded what had happened to Arthur and the effect it had on the family last year when she was shouting at George. She believed his word and that it wasn't a simple excuse. He may have hidden it well, but the attack on Arthur had affected him more than he led on.

"I don't know what else to say, except I promise I'll try to be a better boyfriend in the future. But I can't promise there'll be no teasing. You must have learnt that's a part of me by now." He said jokily, and she sighed. She knew he was being completely genuine and sincere, something he found challenging in a serious conversation. She couldn't remember the last time he had looked so awkward, with him twiddling his hands and rocking on his heels. He was starting to sweat, proving how he was holding back from making a joke about the situation. He was focusing on her entirely and his intense gaze of remorse was what made up her decision.

"Okay. You should know I'm not nearly ready to forgive you." She said truthfully, and he nodded.

"Of course." He answered.

"But, I think if you give me some space for the next few days, I might be able too."

He let out a sigh of relief and was about to say something when she pointed a threatening finger at him with a stern expression on her features.

"However, if you ever question what I do for you again, I swear I will not be nearly as accommodating as I am right now!" She warned.

"Never again." He stated, not wishing to relieve seeing her completely broken expression again.

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><p>The next morning, the Weasleys and Hermione headed to Diagon Alley. Due to the fact that school was starting up in a week, everywhere was incredibly busy and it was clear that they wouldn't get everything finished unless they split up. Molly and Arthur decided to buy the small amount of books and school equipment needed for everyone while everyone else sorted out new robes for Ron and Ginny. They walked into Madam Malkins to see a crowd of people ahead of them.<p>

"Looks like we're going to be a while." Ginny announced, turning around to face Fred, George, Ron and Hermione. They were all forced to stand closely together because of the amount of people inside the store, immediately pushing them altogether uncomfortably. A rather large man pushed past them all and unknowingly hit Hermione with his bag and accidentally pushed her into Ron. She raised her hands up to his chest to stop her fall and his hands landed on her waist to keep her remaining standing. She straightened up with a small blush of embarrassment and gave him a smile in thanks. He awkwardly reciprocated it and instantly let go of her waist, suddenly very aware of the curves she had been hiding under her loose top.

"Yeah well, you lot are going to be stuck here without me, I've got plans to meet up with Angelina." Fred said, bringing Ron and Hermione back reality. He waggled his eyebrows suggestively at George who grinned and disappeared into the crowd behind them. They distantly saw the door open and assumed he must have made his way out, to see Hagrid walk in which meant he was with-

"HARRY!" Hermione squealed, forced her way through the mass of people towards her bestfriend. The second she saw a head of unruly black hair, she threw her arms around him causing him to stumble back.

"Woah Hermione. I'm happy to see you too." Harry answered chuckling, wrapping his arms back around her. She instantly pulled away blushing in embarrassment at her emotional display.

"Sorry, hello Harry, Hagrid." Hermione greeted, and let them step inside the shop more. She looked at Harry properly for the first time and saw how terrible he looked. Despite how happy he was at the moment, it was clear his summer had been anything but. His eyes held even more sadness than they usually did and he appeared completely exhausted.

She knew he wouldn't want to talk about _it _here and put on a smile. They forced their way towards the Weasleys (which was a lot easier with Hagrid) and George clapped Harry on the back seeing him.

"All right there Harry?" George asked grinning, which Harry returned.

"Okay thanks. I bet you're really enjoying Hermione staying with you." Harry replied, suggestively.

"Oh yeah." George answered, in the same suggestive tone. Harry chuckled, and Hermione scowled at him. He grinned at her in response.

"Hey Ginny. You okay?" Harry addressed, and Ginny's eyes went wide as she turned scarlet.

"Yes, thank you Harry." She replied, in a ridiculously high pitched tone that made Ron snort.

"Oh Harry, this is Ron. Ron, Harry." Hermione quickly introduced them both, and they both nodded at eachother. Neither of the boys chose to mention how they remembered their very first meeting on the Hogwart's Express, not wishing for the slightly awkward situation to increase.

"Alri' 'Arry I best be off. Got to go find some flesh eatin' slug repellent." Hagrid said, seeing Harry would be fine with Hermione and the Weasleys.

"See you Hagrid." They all said in unison, before he walked outside.

They moved forward in the queue a few places and Hermione glanced at Harry again. She knew it wasn't the right place to ask him but she needed to know something.

"How have you really been Harry?" She asked in a quiet tone, so no-one else would hear.

Harry looked at her and let a flash of pain cross his face as he remembered Sirius. He swallowed and gave her a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Been better."

She sighed and took her hand in his, giving it a reassuring squeeze with a similar smile. He squeezed her hand back, giving her a look that said he'd be okay in time.

"Are you okay? I mean, you and Ginny all healed up?" Harry asked, and she nodded letting go of his hand.

"Why would Ginny have to be all healed up?" Ron questioned, over hearing the last part.

"Ron, don't. It was nothing." Ginny sighed.

"Do you know what happened George?" Ron asked, ignoring Ginny.

"Of course Ronniekins. We told you what happened. Ginny fell during Quidditch." George explained. This was the lie they had told Ron, covering up for the Department of Mysteries. The Wizarding World was now well aware that Voldemort had returned. What the minister deemed to be unimportant though, was how he had learnt of Voldemort's return.

Therefore, since it wasn't necessary to inform Ron that his sister had only narrowly escaped possible death again, she, Fred and George agreed not to tell him. They all knew what his reaction would be like because he had held himself personally responsible for what happened to her in her first year. Ron had thought if he had been more of a friend towards her than wallowing in pity about his own life like he had done, she wouldn't have become so dependent on Tom Riddle's diary. It was all nonsense that his self-destructive instincts were telling him, but no matter how many times Ginny explained it wasn't his fault, he still felt partially guilty for it. None of the Weasleys wanted Ron to think he was to blame for something else he couldn't have prevented.

"So how did Hermione get hurt then? I doubt she could get hurt from a book or something." Ron snapped, well aware that he had now been lied to by his family. Hermione was about to retort angrily at his generalization about her but Harry interrupted.

"We should tell him. I spoke to Dumbledore last night and he said that we need all the support we can get and the more people that know the truth the better." Harry said, and Ginny, Fred and George looked at eachother. They all wordlessly agreed that Harry was right and nodded.

"We should probably wait until we are in a more private area though." Hermione concluded, and Ron reluctantly accepted that was the best offer he was going to get. Luckily for him, the crowd had suddenly diminished and it wasn't long before they were all back at the Burrow.

As soon as everyone had made it through the Floo network and Arthur and Molly were out of earshot, Ron gave them a look that said if they didn't talk instantly they'd regret it. They explained the entire story about the Department of Mysteries to him and he was obviously furious that he hadn't been told before. He had abruptly stood out of his chair in the kitchen and let it fall to the ground. He started pacing around, clenching his hair instead of putting his fist through the wall. He wasn't sure what he was more mad about, the fact his sister had gone through that or that they lied to him about it.

"Why wasn't I told in the first place?" He snapped, and Ginny rolled her eyes, expecting this question.

"Because we knew you would react like this! Like we explained, I had a few broken bones that was it!" She snapped, hating how he always babied her. He gritted his teeth and took a breath before placing the chair back up and collapsed onto it.

"So that was it? Everyone's fine. It was just broken bones then. That's all?" Ron asked, in a demanding tone.

"Well-" Harry started, glancing at Hermione and she gave him a warning look. There wasn't a reason Ron needed to know about what happened to her and she thought it was clear he was only concerned about his sister.

"Yes, that's it." Hermione said, with what she hoped was a reassuring tone. Ron gave her a suspicious look and appeared that he was about to retort, but Molly walked in.

"Hermione, may I speak with you in private please?" Molly asked in a stern tone, completely unlike her usual one. Hermione glanced around at the Weasley's to see they resembled an expression similar to her confused one.

"Of course, Mrs Weasley." Hermione answered, and stood up following Molly outside. They walked for a few minutes in silence. Hermione ran the endless possibilities of what the reason for this conversation could be for. She had a feeling it was about her relationship with George but couldn't decide on the exact details of it. Molly took a deep breath and Hermione looked over at her to see she looked as nervous and awkward as she felt.

"Now Hermione, I am aware that in a few months you'll be of age and you're in a serious relationship with one of my son's. I feel it is important for you to know the spells and potions needed in case you and George ever get…intimate."

Hermione's entire face turned a deep crimson. This type of conversation had ran through her head as a small possibility of occurring, but she had never really thought it would happen. She silently wished she hadn't agreed to this talk with Molly.

"Mrs Weasley, there's really no need for this. I've had this talk with my mother and, to be perfectly honest, I'm not nearly ready to be 'intimate' with George yet." Hermione argued, hoping that would be enough to get out of the conversation. Molly's expression seemed relieved for a few seconds and she smiled warmly at Hermione.

"I know you're a sensible girl Hermione. You may know how you feel now but that can change and if it does, I'd rather not have to worry about my son having an illegitimate child." Hermione was about to reply with another argument but Molly held up a hand to silence her. "I don't doubt your information on muggle forms of birth control Hermione. I simply want to teach you the wizarding spell for it."

And so began the most awkward quarter of an hour of Hermione Granger's life.

Hermione walked in the Burrow with her face the colour of a beetroot. She shakily walked into the living room and sat next to George on the sofa. Ron was about to start bombarding her with more questions about the Department of Mysteries, since everyone else was refusing to say what had happened, until he saw her expression.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Harry asked, sitting in an armchair close by Ginny. She had appeared to have gotten over the shock of seeing her lifelong crush after a few weeks and they'd managed to engage in a conversation about Quidditch, as a way of ignoring Ron. That didn't mean she wasn't permanently blushing though.

"I suppose," Hermione replied shakily. "Your mum just gave me a sex talk."

All the Weasley's shivered in unison as Harry held back a snigger at her declaration. The last thing on Ron's mind was the Department of Mysteries now.

"Careful Harry, she'll probably try to have a talk with you before you leave. She already likes you more than her own sons." Fred said, which wiped the smile off Harry's face.

Luckily for Harry, he didn't get a sex talk with Molly. He left after dinner, taking the Night Bus to Privet Drive.

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><p>After Harry left, Hermione had taken a shower. She had quickly learnt with the Weasley's you had to take a shower the second you could, meaning she couldn't have her usual morning shower. This was also when most of the Weasley family had theirs. She had worked out she would have to get up at six in the morning to be able to have her desired shower and gave up on the idea. Despite her heavy work ethic, Hermione Granger did enjoy the rare opportunity that was given in the holidays to have a lie in. Even if the definition of a lie in for her was sleeping no later than eight thirty.<p>

The warm water helped relax the tense muscles that she wasn't even aware of having and she felt her anxiety melt away. It surprised her how stressful it was to see Harry again. She hated how sad he had become after the death of Sirius, despite how well he hid it. Harry had always had a slight air of sadness, but it had become clear that it had only increased over the summer. Hermione felt guilty for not staying with her parents and asking Harry to spend some of the summer with her. His situation couldn't be helped by staying with the Dursley's. Then again, she had asked him last summer and they forbade him from it. She told herself not to fret about the past or what she could have done, and got out the shower to write a lengthy letter to him in hope it would cheer him up.

She was about to change into her pyjamas but realised she'd forgotten clean underwear. She dried herself off with a towel and then wrapped it around her, carrying her clothes. She opened the door, to check if the coast was clear, only to see Ron standing in front of her with his arm raised like he was about to knock on the door.

She jumped seeing him and dropped her clothes in shock. He remained standing completely still with wide eyes. The only thought running through his mind that there was an almost naked girl in front of him. She blushed and knelt down (gripping her towel as if her life depended on it) to pick up her clothes. His eyes, if possible, went even wider, not having any idea what was going through this girl's head. Did she have any idea what she was doing to him? What kind of an image comes to mind when you see a girl kneeling down in front of a guy? Exactly.

He quickly let his arms drop so his clothes conveniently covered up his crotch, when she stood up with her clothes in hand. She noticed his ears had gone slightly pink and he looked like he wanted to do anything but look at her. However, his brain had other ideas. Her hair was soaking wet and instead of a frizzy bush on top of her head, it was in dark soft curls. His eyes went to a drop of water that had fallen off the ends of her hair and was slowly gliding down her tanned slim neck, to make it's voyage down the valley between her-

His eyes snapped back to her face, not knowing if he could ever live down the humiliation of being caught staring at her chest. She wasn't sure why, but she found herself getting slightly warm from his intense gaze and in a way, didn't want him to stop. She felt a small jolt go down her stomach and she flickered her eyes up to his to see they'd darkened in colour. She noticed his lips had parted slightly so he could let in deeper breaths and she unconsciously did the same.

"Merlin!" George shouted, walking in the scene that quickly broke Ron and Hermione's gaze from eachother. George's eyes greedily looked Hermione up and down while it only clicked to Ron that the girl he had been ogling at was his brother's girlfriend. He turned bright red and shifted his feet as a small line of sweat appeared at his brow.

"Bloody hell, I'll just have a shower later." Ron said embarrassedly, not daring to look at Hermione before dashing upstairs to his bedroom at the speed of light.

"Hey! You better not be going to have a wank about my girlfriend!" George yelled, somehow knowing that Ron would be doing the exact opposite of his request. Hermione blushed even more and made her way to Ginny's room, only to have George quickly slip in behind her and close the door.

"George, don't." Hermione snapped, seeing the mischievous grin on his face as he sauntered over.

"What? Only perfectly innocent thoughts are going on here." He replied, waggling his eyebrows.

"Sometimes I think you confuse me with someone with the brain of a newt." She muttered darkly, holding her towel higher up which mainly succeeded in his eyes glancing down to the more thigh she had revealed.

"I'm serious get out now! Is this giving me space?" She snapped, and his grin quickly vanished, forgetting she hadn't quite forgiven him yet.

"Right, sorry. Well I'm not," He said, gesturing to her appearance and she raised a questionable eyebrow up at him. "Okay, I'm going, I'm going."

George quickly vacated the room so Hermione magically dried her hair and changed before hopping into bed. She blushed, squeezing the duvet cover, thinking over the past ten minutes. She found her heart beating wildly at the certain intense gaze a blue-eyed red head had given her.

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><p><strong>A:N I've mentioned this before but George's eyes are brown. *insert sly grin here* I can safely say as well that Ron will definitely be disobeying George's orders. Probably a few times MWAH HA HA!**

**I'm hoping no-one minds the whole bathroom scenario, I know it's been done before but I just couldn't resist. And it was also needed really. There needed to be some sort of moment where Ron could possibly view Hermione as someone who wasn't just his 'brother's girlfriend', similar to the first time he sees her at the Yule Ball in the books so he finally sees her as a 'girl'. **

**Thanks again to everyone who reviewed! Especially for all the birthday wishes! Now I can happily have some wine while writing, oh to become a cliche is glorious sometimes! In case anyone was wondering, I'm 18 but drinking law in the UK is 18 so yay for me :P**

**I should have thanked everyone individually but also thanks to the people I couldn't Romione4ever, Emma, harrylovesginny, ttt, Sarden and KING. **

**To Emma who reviewed: **

**Thanks for the birthday wishes :P And I'm glad you're pleased at how I'm trying to stick to the books as much as possible. **

**-I think I've said this before but I got the idea for this story upon finding the vast amount of fanfics there are that revolve around the idea of Ron being in Slytherin, but make him have some sort of personality change. I personally thought it'd be very interesting if he had the personality we all know and love but for some reason, was put into Slytherin anyway.**

**-Also, this came up a few times from people, about Molly's personality in the last chapter, I realise it was quite over exaggerated but I always thought she'd have a fear that Fred and George would never settle down because of their immaturity. So when she discovered that Hermione, who's a sensible, mature girl, she probably would have been thrilled by the news so much that she would have become a bit too enthusiastic about it. Hopefully that makes her reasoning a bit more understandable. That said though, I do agree it was probably far too cliched and over the top. **

**I think JustAnotherGuy100 raised a good point that it seems as if everyone in fanfiction writes her the way I did, and I've probably been reading far too many stories that portray her this way so I unconciously started thinking of her in this way. I'm sorry about it and I just hope I didn't portray her so badly in this chapter.**

**To Sandrinha:**

***bows down to your review* Seriously, it was so amazing to get such an in depth response. I'm glad I managed to portray George and Hermion's relationship realistically with their difference in age and experience in relationships. You've definitely got their dynamic spot on.**

**All your remaining thoughts and hopes will be answered eventually.**

**Thankyou so much for reviewing.**

**To KING:**

**Thanks for your review!**

**You can expect updates every Sunday. **

**Your feelings about Draco's name are mutual :P Haha! **

**Hmm... haven't really thought about changing the rating to Mature for R/Hr action. I've dabbled in smut writing but never really tried... I'll put it up for a vote!**

**How would everyone feel if I put the rating up to M so I could include some more...detailed writing concerning R/Hr action? Don't worry, I'd never write about G/Hr in that way! So tell me what you'd prefer in a review, at the moment I haven't written it that way but it could easily be adjusted ;)**

**Jesus, my author's notes are getting longer with every chapter! I'll just shut up now.**

**Thanks for reading, and if you review I'll give you a cookie.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A:N/ Link to song (by one of the best bands ever created) for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=R8OOWcsFj0U&ob=av2e**

**Copy, paste and replace the closed brackets with fullstops.**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 4

Perfect Prefects

"_I know you've suffered_

_But I don't want you to hide_

_It's cold and loveless_

_I won't let you be denied."_

_Undisclosed Desires - Muse_

The next week passed with no real difference, except that Hermione had finally forgiven George. Aside from the towel incident, he had done exactly what she wanted and gave her the space she needed. After a few days, she had finally given in, believing he had meant what he said about being a better boyfriend in the future.

It wasn't until the night before they were due to return to Hogwarts when something strange happened. Fred had announced that he would be returning to Hogwarts, claiming his devoted incestuous love for his twin and that he would not live a second more without him as his lover. George reciprocated in a similar manner saying, 'I'm only with Hermione to hide my secret, but my love is too strong to hide anymore.' When Molly gave them a stern look, Fred explained that he was returning to Hogwarts the next day with the other, because he didn't know what he was going to do for a job.

When the morning of the return arrived, the house was in complete chaos. Hermione did her best to help (having organized her belongings the night before) by helping George pack, with the occasional break to have a quick kiss. With Hermione's help, she and the Weasley's managed to make it to platform nine and three quarters with a whole ten minutes to spare before they had to get on the train.

"Now, try to be good you two," Molly begged, as she hugged Fred goodbye looking at him and George.

"When have we ever done anything to make you think differently?" George said, feigning his hurt. Hermione rolled her eyes at him and she started looking through the crowd for Harry. She sighed, knowing she'd have to wait until there was less of a crowd, but continued looking anyway. She felt someone take her hands in theirs.

"You saw him a week ago. Is a few more minutes really going to make much of a difference?" George asked jokily, and she sighed again before looking at him.

"I know. I'm worried about him though. He's so hurt after Sirius, you know, and I hate how he's been stuck with his aunt and uncle all summer with no-one to talk too. I understand why he's hurt it's just… I'll feel better when I see him." Hermione explained, and George wrapped his arms around her waist.

"You worry too much." He whispered, and she smiled about to pull away.

"Ugh. I hope I don't have to put up with this all year." Harry said, and Hermione whipped around. She glared but couldn't help grinning at him.

"Hey, back off my woman Potter!" George shouted, pulling her closer to him and she turned to glare at him properly.

"Your woman?" She questioned, and pushed herself away from him.

"Joking." He reassured, which did nothing of the sort and she promptly turned towards Harry.

"So Harry, I hope the Dursley's weren't too horrible." She said, and Harry sniggered.

"No different then usual. How about you? Have fun with-"

"Okay Harry, I was nice enough to let one comment slide. If you make another, I won't be as kind." She snapped, and he chuckled.

"I get it. You let your best friend off but not your boyfriend. I'm sincerely hurt Hermione." George mocked, and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Fine, you're forgiven. You over-confident prat." She gave in, and he happily took her hand in his and pecked her cheek.

"Seriously, you two are getting nearly as bad as Malfoy and Parkinson." Harry joked, and George and Hermione looked disgusted.

"Now that's crossing a line that shouldn't be crossed." George said, grimacing as they picked up their trunks to get on the train.

They got on and managed to find the compartment that Ginny and Fred were in. They both grinned at Hermione, George and Harry while they sat down opposite them.

When they all started talking about Quidditch, Hermione rummaged through her bag and found her Defence Against The Dark Arts book. She pulled her legs up to her chest and started reading when Ron walked in. George began twirling some of her hair in between his fingers and she glanced at him.

"What are you doing?" She asked him, when Ron sat down next to Ginny. Hermione swatted George's hand away and continued reading. He started twirling her hair once more and she swatted it away again. "Stop it, I'm trying to read."

He ignored her and carried on, leaning forward kissing her cheek. She pushed him away but he came back more eager. She groaned and smacked his shoulder with her book. Ron, Harry, Fred and Ginny laughed as George winced in pain.

"Don't tell me you didn't ask for it!" She snapped, and he pouted his lip. She rolled her eyes and quickly pecked him on the lips. "Now leave me alone, I need to catch up on my studying."

"For next year." Ginny finished, and Hermione ignored him, going back to her reading.

An hour passed, and Hermione and Ron had to leave for their prefect meeting. They quickly got changed into their uniforms on the way and Hermione bit her lip unconsciously, seeing the green and silver tie around his neck. She'd virtually forgotten that he was a Slytherin and it made her feel uneasy.

If she were being honest with herself, the main reason she had never introduced herself to Ron before was because of his being in Slytherin.

When she had gotten to know Ginny, she had told her everything about her brothers but hardly mentioned Ron. The same thing had happened with Fred and George as well. It was as if Ron had closed himself off from his family as well as the rest of the world so in turn, his family didn't talk about him. It was as if it was an unspoken rule not to talk about him or his being in Slytherin. It was clearly a sensitive subject for the entire family, not just Ron.

It was because of this lack of knowledge about Ron that she never introduced herself. She assumed that he was just like every other Slytherin. She thought if she tried to get to know him he'd ignore her or call her a filthy Mudblood that didn't deserve to be anywhere near the rest of his family. Now, it was painfully obvious that he would never have done anything of the sort. Perhaps if she knew about his loneliness and isolation, she would have worked out how he was really nothing like the other Slytherins. Considering she'd never given him a second glance though, she had never known about his situation. If she had known, she wouldn't have hesitated in introducing herself.

However, now that she did know, she couldn't stop a wave of guilt consuming her from her unjustified prejudice towards him. She did her best to make it seem like it didn't affect her but she had a feeling he knew it did.

She smiled at him anyways, and they made their way to the prefect meeting in an awkward silence. Professor McGonagall greeted them and they sat down to wait for the rest of the prefects.

"Professor?" Hermione asked, gaining the woman's attention.

"Yes Miss Granger." She replied, and Ron looked between the two.

"This year, I'm aware that to promote inter house community that prefects are going to be paired up with people in different houses." Hermione stated.

"That's correct Miss Granger." Professor McGonagall replied.

"Well, Ron and I were thinking, could we possibly be partners? Considering most disputes happen between Gryffindor and Slytherin it seems to be the best partnership. Also, given my personal history with Mr Malfoy, I would much rather be partnered up with Ron." Hermione explained, and McGonagall let a small smile grace her features.

"Thank you for your suggestion Miss Granger. Of course, you are well aware that I can not give favouritism and allow you two the choice of choosing your partners when no-one else can. However, I will take your suggestion into account." McGonagall answered, with a comforting look in her eyes and gave Hermione a reassuring smile. Hermione beamed, knowing there was a good reason that Professor McGonagall was her favourite teacher.

It wasn't long until the rest of the prefects joined them, and they were given their timetabled patrols and other obligations. Ron and Hermione found they had been partnered up and they were given the task of patrolling the train. Ron was asked to stay behind for a few minutes so Hermione waited for him outside the compartment as all the other prefects walked out.

"Ugh, I can't believe I've been partnered up with that wench Padma Patil." Pansy Parkinson claimed snottily, flicking her dirty blonde hair behind her shoulder, brushing past Hermione. Draco smirked and dropped an arm over her shoulders sighing.

"At least you're not stuck with a Gryffindork. I've got…what's her name? Something Brown. I've heard she's easy so it may not be a complete waste of time." Draco commented to Crabbe and Goyle, who had waited for him outside the compartment. Pansy let a flicker of hurt cross her face but she said nothing and tightened her grip around Draco's waist.

"Anyone's better than that mudblood cow Granger!" He yelled, as they all walked into the next carriage. Hermione unconsciously pulled her book closer to her chest as Ron walked out with his teeth gritted and clenched fists. She gave him a small smile which did nothing to change the anger in his eyes.

"Does he always say stuff like that to you?" Ron practically growled, and Hermione gave him a slightly surprised look.

"Yes. I'm surprised you haven't noticed before. He's been calling me that since my first year." She said, and they started walking. She wondered for a second why Ron was so angry about it but quickly remembered his family's dislike for blood prejudice.

"Seriously? And no-one's done anything about it?" Ron continued in a tone getting close to furious. She glanced at his eyes to see them full of an outrage that almost made him animalistic. She may have been slightly frightened of him, if he wasn't feeling this way because of what someone had said to her. She looked ahead of her and slid open the door going into the next carriage.

"Harry and George have tried but he still does it. Professor Snape lets him get away with it whenever he's around claiming he didn't hear it. I didn't think it was that important to bother other teachers with." Hermione explained, and Ron stormed through to the next carriage, not even checking the compartments to make sure no-one was doing something they shouldn't. She glanced in the compartments and saw everything to be as it should. She caught up with him as he headed into the next carriage. "Besides, I'm so used to it now it doesn't really hurt me anymore."

She knew this was a blatant lie and the look Ron gave her told her he wasn't buying it. He unclenched his fists and ran a hand through his hair to grip the ends while he slowed his walk.

"That doesn't mean the bastard should get away with saying shit like that." Ron snarled, now checking a few compartments. She suspected he was probably looking for Malfoy, rather than doing it as part of his prefect duties.

"Language Ron. I wouldn't bother fretting about it. He's more trouble than he's worth." She said, hoping that would be enough to conclude the conversation.

"I don't care. The wanker should be taught a lesson. I've always wanted an excuse to wipe that bloody smirk off his face. Now I have one." Ron had an almost murderous look in his eyes now and she grabbed his arm pulling him back.

"Watch your language! And I don't need you fighting my battles for me, Ronald." She snapped protectively. She was perfectly capable of defending herself. He wrenched his arm out of her grip and gave her a cold look.

"Well, it's not like you're doing anything about it, you just stood there taking it." He snapped back, and she glared at him.

"It's not my fault he said it at the end of the corridor. If I shouted back I wouldn't be setting a good example as a prefect, would I? And not that it's any of your business, but I have defended myself plenty of times before. I doubt letting him get away with saying it once will drastically change anything." She retorted.

"All right, give me an example of when you so called, 'defended' yourself." He said smugly, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Fine! In third year, I punched him and broke his nose!" She snapped proudly, and waited for his reaction.

Ron's furious disposition altered to one of joy in a second. He instantly burst out laughing exclaiming, "That was you?"

She glared at him icily. "Yes. Are you saying you thought a woman could not have hurt him so much?"

"Not at all. He said that in Quidditch practice he took a quaffel to the face. Everyone knew the git was lying but couldn't get the truth out of him. I'm just surprised. George always said how anti-violent you were." Ron clarified, still laughing and Hermione let her gaze soften.

"That is true. However, I wasn't really myself in third year." She pointed out, and he looked at her confused, instinctively stopping his laughter.

"Why?" He asked curiously, when they began walking again.

"It's a long story." She answered, not really in the mood to disclose one of the most embarrassing years of her life. She had a feeling he would laugh in her face and she wasn't in the mood for it.

They walked through the next carriages in a comfortable silence, alone with their thoughts. Hermione tucked some of her bushy hair behind her ear and glanced over at Ron, catching sight of his tie again. She bit her bottom lip nervously, knowing she shouldn't even be considering what she was about to ask him. She tried to push the question down, aware that it wouldn't do any good. However, she needed to know some answers. She had spent her entire life needing to know logical explanations for everything and this was no exception.

"Ron, do you mind if I ask you about why you're in Slytherin?" She asked nervously, and his jaw tensed with his gaze hardening.

"Yes." He snapped, not looking at her and she sighed.

"It's just, I don't understand why-" She started, and he clenched his fists.

"I said I don't want to talk about it." He snapped, his voice sounding just as it had when they were talking about Malfoy.

"I know. I'm confused though." She tried to explain, and he couldn't take it. He groaned frustratingly and turned towards her.

"What? And you don't think I am? I've spent far too much of my life asking why the hell I was put in this damned house! All it's ever done is given me crap I know I don't deserve! I'm sick and tired of hearing this shit about how other people are confused! It seems like no-one gives a flying fuck about how I feel and how confused I am! I never thought I'd be put in a house that only the evil kinds of wizards go through. I have to live with the fact the sorting hat is never wrong, so somewhere inside of me I must be evil! You don't think that scares me? And it doesn't help that all people ever ask me about is why I'm in Slytherin! I hate it so much! No-one cares or wants to get to know me, just always asking why I'm the only Weasley to ever be put in Slytherin. It fucking hurts okay. So don't, just…don't." He was shouting so loud at her that some people had popped their heads out of the compartment doors to see what the commotion was about. This seemed to go past Ron and Hermione, who at that moment felt like they were the only two people in the world. He was glaring straight into her eyes with such a hatred she felt her insides squirm and she could feel her own anger rising at his outburst that had humiliated her.

She put her hands on her hips and gave him a similar look.

"Who do you think you are Ron? I am not the type of person who asks a personal question to get the answer out of them and start spreading it around like a piece of gossip! I was simply asking you about it, thinking you might want to open up to someone! I apologise, since I'm clearly not good enough to be your friend! I can't believe over the past few weeks I thought we'd become friends! I admit I was slightly curious, and wanted an explanation for the reason you were put in Slytherin. It doesn't help that you keep bottling up all your feelings about the situation, until you start shouting at a person for no good reason when they ask you about it! If I knew it was going to cause this much trouble I wouldn't have bothered wanting to help!" She shouted, gaining even more attention. This was perhaps the first time most of the audience had heard the 'Slytherin Weasley' speak, and needless to say they didn't expect him to be so loud. He had always been extremely quiet in school. Another thing that was strange, was the fact he appeared to have a friend. The only friends people knew of him having were his family. Perhaps the most understandable thing about the situation, was that a Gryffindor and Slytherin were screaming at eachother. However, even that was questionable when you took into account what their argument was about.

Ron glowered at Hermione. "I don't need your pity! I can take of myself, and have done perfectly well for the past five years!" He roared, causing some of the audience to jump. Some of the first years retreated back into their compartments mildly scared.

"Oh, and obviously me wanting to help you is because I pity you!" She snapped sarcastically, "That must mean you pitied me earlier with Malfoy then!"

Everyone around them glanced at eachother confused and wondered what Malfoy did to Hermione. Ron blinked a few times, trying to find a decent retort. She saw he wasn't going to speak anytime soon so continued, "If you think I pity you then think again! If I did, I would have said it to your face! But I didn't, did I! I like you for you! Not because I feel the need to be friends with you since you're a brother of my boyfriend! I simply wanted to let you know that as your friend, I would be here for you if you ever wanted to talk. Is that really so terrible?"

"Then you should have let me go to you and not try to demand it out of me!" He screamed, gesturing with his hands wildly.

She scoffed at him and narrowed her eyes at him. "As if you would have! Don't patronize me Ronald! You refuse to properly open up to anyone! If you don't start soon, it'll kill you!" She shrieked, and she saw his guard weakening. His eyes went wide and he dropped his arms, before attempting to regain his composure.

"S-stop being so dramatic." He mumbled, with his ears turning red again. She sighed and pressed her fingers to her forehead, massaging her temples. Most people had noticed that the fight was virtually over now and retreated back into their compartments.

Hermione let her hand drop to her side before speaking again in a quieter tone, "Look Ron, all I wanted was to let you know that I'm here for you. I apologise if it didn't come out like that, but that's how I meant it. I'm not saying this because I feel obligated, but because I've come to think of you as my friend. That's all there is to it."

His gaze softened completely and he ran a hand through his hair, feeling like the world's biggest git. She pulled her bag up her shoulder more and placed a hand on her hip, waiting for him to answer.

"Okay. Thanks, I guess. I think of you as a friend too." He replied awkwardly.

"Good to know." She said strictly, before marching down the rest of the carriage. She was clearly annoyed he hadn't felt the need to apologise to her from his outburst. The few stragglers of the crowd hastily went back into their compartments, well aware now of the couple's tempers.

Ron quickly caught up with Hermione, plunging his hands in his pockets and strolled casually by her side in the last carriage of the train.

"So _friend_, it's normal for _friends_ to do favours for eachother, right?" He asked, and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"I suppose so, depending on what the favour is." She answered, wondering where this conversation was leading.

"Well, McGonagall says my O. weren't too great for a prefect and if I don't get my act together soon, I'll lose my badge. So I guess I'm asking, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, if you could help tutor me?" He asked hopefully, and she looked at him in disbelief.

"I get it. One minute, you're furious with me, but the moment you can get something out of me, you're suddenly all chummy again?" She snapped, her temper quickly building up again.

"No I just, all right I'm sorry I blew up at you. It's just a…sensitive topic." His voice got quieter as the sentence continued and the colour in his cheeks rose. She looked him up and down quickly, slightly confused about something.

"You must have had good grades to become a prefect though." She stated simply, and he ran a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, I did for a few years since I didn't really have anything else to do. I didn't care that I got good grades; schoolwork was just something to waste time with. Then when I became prefect, mum and dad got me a broom as a present and I picked up flying more. I preferred doing that to studying, and with prefect duties as well, time filled up pretty quickly so I sort of stopped trying with work." He explained, causing Hermione to purse her lips. She hardly thought that was a good enough excuse to start failing and was about to say so when he added, "Plus Fred and George don't take the mick out of me anymore for it. Quite glad really, I was getting sick of being told I was becoming another Percy in the family."

Hearing that, she calmed down. She knew far too well about Percy's abandonment within the family and seeing Ron's scowl about being referred to him, he obviously didn't appreciate it. She frowned, unaware that Fred and George could say something so harsh towards Ron. He was their brother after all and they must be aware of his low self-esteem. She briefly wondered how they could be so cruel and thought she'd have to ask George about it when she saw him.

She quickly remembered how the conversation had arisen and felt her sympathy for Ron take over her better judgement. She bit her bottom lip and hoped she wasn't going to regret what she was about to say.

"I suppose I could give you a hand. What subjects are you struggling in?" She asked, sighing.

"All of them." He mumbled, scratching the back of his head and she rolled her eyes in disbelief. Did all the Weasley men not care about their futures?

"Merlin, fine! I'll help." She snapped, not happy that she had given in so quickly because of his situation. He beamed and she couldn't stop a small smile appearing on her face, glimpsing at his expression.

"Thank you so much, Hermione." Ron exclaimed, making her blush for a reason she didn't know. He gazed at her and complimented, "I'm starting to see why George is so in love with you."

Hermione stopped walking with wide eyes and felt her heart beat drop.

"What?" She gasped unbelievingly. He turned around about to repeat himself, when he saw her expression.

"Oh bloody hell. I thought he told you already, if I knew he hadn't, I wouldn't have said it." Ron stuttered, mentally kicking himself for messing yet another thing up.

Hermione's heart started beating wildly as the words sunk in. George Weasley was in love with her, Hermione Granger. She felt suffocated all of a sudden and the temperature felt like it had risen a hundred degrees. She started taking deep breaths and a rush of blood coloured her cheeks.

"This is good though, isn't it? I thought you would be happy to hear it." Ron said light heartedly, attempting to make the situation better.

"Funnily enough, the first time I would hear of my boyfriend being in love with me, I expected it to come from him." She sighed, and saw Ron look down at the floor guiltily. "I'm not blaming you Ron. I'm … I don't know. I'm confused about why he hasn't told me. I was worried he would never feel that for me, it's been a year already. He always acted like it was just a bit of fun. I don't know."

She could feel a lump rising in her throat and did her best to push it down. She wasn't sure she could live down the embarrassment of bursting into tears in front of her boyfriend's brother.

"Sorry, you don't want to hear this." She mumbled, sniffing and tucked some of her hair behind her ear. They started walking again and he swallowed.

"No, I mean, it's all right. You said friends were meant to open up to eachother?" He asked hesitantly, not quite remembering if she had said it in the way he thought she meant.

"I know, I wasn't sure if you'd be comfortable discussing it that's all." She replied.

"Why?"

"Because, he's your brother." She stated, and he scratched his head, thinking it over for a few seconds.

"I suppose it might be a little weird, but I don't mind. I guess I owe you for the whole tutor thing." He said with a hopeful smile, and she smiled back.

"Thanks for the offer, but this is the only thing he can answer really." She replied truthfully, and Ron nodded in a somewhat relieved way. She stopped walking and thought about what she was about to do for a second. "In fact, I'm going to get the answer right now."

She promptly stormed off to the end of the carriage where their compartment was and slid the door open. She glanced inside to see just George, Fred and Ginny.

"Where's Harry?" Hermione asked, her thoughts going off track not seeing her best friend.

"Said something about Malfoy and then rushed off." Ginny said, sounding as confused as Hermione about the situation.

"Okay, George I need to talk to you. Privately." She snapped, before storming off again and found an empty compartment. George winked at Fred, who grinned back, and then ran after Hermione. Ron walked inside and sat next to Ginny, about to explain Hermione's attitude. George slid the door shut behind him as he walked in the compartment and drew the blinds across the door.

"George, would you care to tell me why your brother is aware of the fact you're in love with me and I'm not?" Hermione snapped, getting straight to the point.

That dropped the smile off his face and she crossed her arms beneath her chest.

"Well?" She snapped, and for the first time in her life, she saw George Weasley nervous. He took a shaky hand and clenched it into a fist, trying to hide his nerves.

"Why did he tell you?" George asked quietly, staring at the ground sounding furious.

"He thought I knew, which leads me to believe he's known for a long time." Hermione answered in an unsympathetic tone.

There was silence for a few minutes and Hermione sighed angrily.

"God George! Is this some stupid joke or were you actually serious?" She shrieked, never understanding why her boyfriend had to be so confusing at times.

"It wasn't a joke." He replied in a barely audible tone. She felt her anger slip away and let her sympathy come through.

"Then why didn't you tell me? I know it's hard but that never stopped anyone else!" She snapped, refusing not to be angry. She had every right to be, at least in her mind. He looked up at her slightly hurt.

"Why are you so mad? I thought you'd be happy." He said the hurt evident in his voice.

"Oh yes, incredibly happy! That I had to find out how my boyfriend felt about me from his brother! It hurt me, George." She shrieked hysterically, as a lump rose in her throat again.

She let a few tears out and he wordlessly walked over to her, taking her in his arms. She wrapped her arms back around him and let herself cry in to his chest for a few minutes, forgetting she was supposed to be angry at him.

"I'm sorry; I was going to tell you. I planned to tell you when you were staying. But, everytime I felt the moment was right we got interrupted or something got in the way. I wanted it to be perfect because it's what you deserve."

She lifted her head off his chest and looked into his eyes with her watery ones. "It would have been perfect just to hear you say it, you arse." She moaned, and hit his shoulder weakly. He gave her a small smile and wiped away her tears.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I know it probably won't mean much now, considering you already know. But, I do love you. Very much."

She let some more tears fall and smiled broadly. He wiped them away and tucked her hair behind her ear. He asked, "Is there any chance you may love me too?"

"I'm not sure if you deserve to hear that. After all I've gone through today because of you." She answered jokily. He gave her an honest, pleading look and she let the smile fall from her face, seeing how serious he was being, for once in his life. She swallowed and looked in his eyes.

"But I guess it couldn't hurt. George, I love you too."

She saw a look of utter happiness cross his features, before his lips came crashing down onto hers. She responded eagerly and wrapped her arms around his neck, moving closer to him. His hands glided to her lower back and she moved her fingers into his hair.

"What do you say we go to the Room of Requirement later?" He asked against her lips. Her eyes snapped open in surprise and she abruptly pulled away, knowing what he was hinting towards. He grinned at her as she thought over what he was suggesting.

"George, that's not what that room is supposed to be used for and you know it." She said strictly, and saw his face drop. "But perhaps I can make an exception. Just this once."

Seeing his ecstatic expression return, she rolled her eyes and took his hand in hers and said, "Come on, everyone's probably wondering where we have been."

The rest of the trip passed in a flash, and Hermione soon found herself sitting at the Gryffindor table. She looked up at the teachers table to see the sorting ceremony had finished and she blinked several times, not believing she'd dazed through it all. She usually paid close attention to it, despite how dull it could get at times.

It also appeared that Dumbledore had given his speech as well, since he was eating and talking to Professor Sprout. Hermione looked around to see everyone else was eating and glanced down to see her empty plate. Opposite her, Harry took a sip of his pumpkin juice and gave her a concerned look.

"Are you okay Hermione?" He asked, and she smiled at him.

"I'm fine, just a bit dazed." She answered, and let her hand slip out of George's, who was sat next to her, as she started putting food on her plate.

"I bet. Because she's so in 'leeerrrve'." Fred commented, who was sat on the other side of George and she rolled her eyes at him.

"Fred, don't be so immature." She scolded, and he grinned mischievously.

"Please, you two could barely keep your hands to eachother the whole train ride back. And that's saying something when it concerns you Miss Granger." Ginny said in a very McGonagall-ish tone, making Harry snigger.

"Ginny you should respect your elders, and that's not even a very good impersonation." Hermione commented sharply, and Ginny rolled her eyes.

"You're just saying that because you're in love with such a joker." Ginny answered, and Hermione sighed, wondering how the conversation had switched so quickly.

"That really didn't make any sense, Ginny."

"Nothing makes sense to you though, because you're so in love." Harry said, and Hermione groaned, running a hand through her hair.

"They're only telling the truth Hermione." George said, and she looked at him coldly.

"Don't you start or you'll be in for a world of pain!" She snapped, and he grinned.

"I certainly hope so." He replied, and Ginny and Harry groaned, pushing their plates away.

"I've suddenly been put off my appetite." Harry said, and Hermione smiled.

"Serves you right." She commented.

They laughed slightly and Hermione's eyes landed to the opposite side of the room, where the Slytherin table was. She scanned the table until she saw a mop of red hair. She had to blink a few times to check she was seeing him correctly. This couldn't be the same Ronald Weasley she'd been getting to know for the past few weeks, could it?

This Ron had a sullen expression and was moodily pushing his food around on his plate. He was refusing to look anywhere but his plate, and was holding his head up with his hand. He looked completely exhausted and drained, like he had been walking the earth alone for a hundred years.

The Ron she knew constantly had a smile on his face and would have eaten about two helpings of food without a second thought. He would have had an air of happiness around him and would be cracking a couple of jokes to the people around him.

It became evident though, that there was no-one around him. The other Slytherins were seated a few feet away from him and the closest ones had their backs to him. He was being completely ignored by everyone and the smile on her face dropped instantly.

She felt a surge of sympathy go out to him. Not seeing how depressed he had been before, she couldn't help the little twinge of guilt. He looked so utterly alone and gloomy, it nearly broke her heart.

The light and colour was gone from his eyes, leaving a dull transparency about him. He seemed to be a shell of who he was and a part of her ached to see someone forced to be like that. He glanced up, probably sensing someone staring at him, and his eyes caught hers.

She silently wished he hadn't looked up. Now, she was looking straight into his morose, transparent orbs that always seemed so full of life. She gave him what she hoped to be a warm smile and saw him smile back, gaining a glimmer of life back into his eyes.

"Hermione?" Harry said, and she broke the eye contact with Ron to look at Harry.

"Yes." She answered, almost breathless.

"What's he doing?" He asked, and she furrowed her eyebrows. What would Harry want to know about Ron?

"Who?"

"Malfoy." She glanced over at Draco and saw he looked annoyed at Pansy, who was currently claiming her territory by sucking on his neck.

"Nothing that's unusual for him, why?" She replied, eating some of her dinner.

"Well on the train…"

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><p><strong>A:N Okay, I've recently learnt that actually there are only two prefects in each house, one of each gender. I couldn't remember when I wrote this chapter, but for the story to work I need Malfoy to be a prefect too so for the purpose of the story can we all just pretend that there are four prefects for each house or something? That would be a great help, I remain true to my word that I'm still sticking to the books as much as possible.**

**Concerning the Room of Requirement conversation, I repeat I'm NOT going to write about George/Hermione **_**that**_** way. That's all I can say without giving anything way in future chapters so just keep that in mind if you ever start worrying.**

**If anyone's wondering why Ron suddenly blew up at Hermione for her asking him about being in Slytherin, you really have to understand how isolated this boy has been in Hogwarts his entire life. And it was like he said, the only time people ever paid attention to him was to ask him about his being put in Slytherin. This is an incredibly sensitive topic for him, and with him never having any true friends before, it was difficult for him to understand that someone may just want to be there for him. So don't expect any sudden revelations about his being in Slytherin anytime soon, is what I'm trying to say.**

**I'm not sure how widely known the phrase 'taking the mick' is since I'm fairly sure it's a British phrase…well, in case anyone doesn't know it's essentially mocking someone, it's just a different way of saying it. I think it was pretty easy to understand what I meant under the context I gave it in but sorry if it confused anyone!**

**Just so you guys know, everyone who did vote about the Mature rating basically wanted the story to be put up to M so I will be writing more, let's say **_**heated**_** chapters in the future. Again, this will only be concerning Ron and Hermione. But things aren't going to be straying that way just yet, so until I start writing that way, I don't see the point in putting the rating up to M. If anyone is uncomfortable with this, let me know so I can put a little warning in the chapters when it does crop up. **

**Once again thanks for all the feedback guys! Also thanks to KING, Sarden, harrylovesginny and Sandrinha. I am really pleased with the responses to this story, including the favouriting and story alerts people have put on it so just a huge thankyou to everyone.**

**In case anyone wanted to know I got tumblr :P I do post updates about this story every now and then, as my writing goes but I mainly just wanted to let you guys know so if anyone had any questions they wanted answered that are quite specific, you can just throw me one over there. I'll reply almost instantly since I'm always on there.**

**Here's the link: glowinglunatic[]tumblr[]com**

**You'll also all discover that I'm a fanvidder too YAY!  
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**That's it for now, thanks for reading! Now what shall I offer this week as a gift for reviewing…hmm how about chocolate? :P**


	5. Chapter 5

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=aUXAViR9x74**

**Copy, paste and replace the closed brackets with fullstops.**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 5

Acting Strong

"_You came to me from nowhere_

_With nothing and no-one_

_Hold tight, hold tight, hold tight_

_Goes to show _

_You never really know_

_It's alright, it's alright, it's alright."_

_Good Times Gonna Come - Aqualung_

That night, Hermione laughed clutching onto George's hand as he ran towards the Room of Requirement. She was struggling to keep up with him and was quickly becoming breathless. They turned a corner and he turned his head back to her grinning. He somehow managed to speed up even more and she felt her hand slipping out of his.

"George! Seriously, slow down!" She shouted, still laughing while trying to pull him back.

"Oh look. We're here now." He replied, and abruptly stopped running. She crashed into him and he wrapped his arms around her. He leant down and gave her a slow romantic kiss. He pulled away and looked at the wall where the door should have appeared, but it hadn't. "That's weird. I thought of why I needed to go in there three times and nothing's happened."

"That could be because of what you were thinking about. What were you thinking about?" She asked, starting to play with his collar and saw the tell-tale mischievous gleam in his eyes, "You were thinking of something crude weren't you?"

When all he did was attempt to give her a completely innocent expression, she rolled her eyes.

"Okay so that could be why we're not allowed in. Why don't I do the thinking?" She suggested, and he shrugged his shoulders. She closed her eyes letting herself think three times _I need a place for George and I to be comfortable._ Once she thought it, she opened her eyes and saw the door still hadn't appeared. She furrowed her eyebrows, slightly agitated.

"That's strange, why won't it open?" She said to herself more than George. She thought the statement again three times to see the blank wall again. She sighed angrily and he raised an eyebrow up at her.

"Someone's frustrated." He whispered, and she put a finger up to his lips to stop him.

"George. Stop for a second. I think the reason the door's not appearing is because someone's using it and is deliberately blocking it. It's not as if many people know about it though." She muttered, trying to figure out who could be using it.

"Don't start on a whole suspicious scandal that could be going on. It's probably some other people using it from the D.A. Maybe Neville and Luna, I've seen them making eyes at eachother." George said, hoping it would be enough to change her train of thought.

She grimaced slightly. "George, please don't give me the mental image of Neville and Luna being _intimate_ together." Hermione scolded.

"Now Hermione, what kind of images would those be? Intimate is a pretty vague word." He said suggestively, pulling her closer to him.

"Fine, I do not want to have the mental image of Neville and Luna having sex. And neither should you." She said, poking him in the shoulder and he frowned.

"Oh no, I don't want that mental image. But hearing you say that makes a totally different mental image come up." He said in the same tone, and leant down to start kissing a sensitive point behind her ear.

"George, stop it. There was a reason we were going to the Room of Requirement and not to some broom closet." She snapped, pushing him away.

"And that is?" He asked, sounding genuinely curious.

"I don't want to rush or have to keep quiet. I mean, I know we're not going all the way but still, this is a big step for me."

She felt the colour rise in her cheeks in embarrassment at her inexperience, despite telling herself that she shouldn't be ashamed. He kissed the top of her forehead and tucked some of her hair behind her ear.

"You don't have to be embarrassed. It's fine, we can try again tomorrow." He said, wrapping an arm around her waist as they slowly walked down the corridor.

"I can't. I'm tutoring someone." She remembered.

"Who?" He inquired.

"Ron."

"As in my brother?" He asked, with raised eyebrows and she sighed from all the questioning.

"Yes, as in your brother. He asked me and I said yes." She explained, hoping George had gotten enough information out of her.

"Huh." George said, evidently trying to hold back his laughter.

"I swear if you make fun of him George-" She started.

"I won't, I won't."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

"Good, now let's get back to the common room. I have some studying to do."

After staying up for a few more hours, Hermione went up to the girl's dormitory to find Lavender and Parvati awake in their nightgowns. Hermione walked over to her bed, thinking nothing of it, and drew the curtains around her bed as she got changed.

"Honestly Lavender, what are you like? Always wanting what you can't have." Parvati said in a playful manner, and Lavender smiled dreamily.

"Well, I can't help it. Anyway, who says I can't have him?" Lavender answered, and gave Parvati a wicked smile. Hermione rolled her eyes, pulling on her pyjama bottoms and wondered who Lavender was after this time.

"The point is Lavender, no-one knows anything about him. How can you be so sure you like him so much?" Parvati asked seriously. Hermione felt herself eavesdropping deliberately now, actually curious. It was a rare occasion that Lavender chose to go after a guy for something other than his social status. It sounded like this boy was a bit quieter than Lavender's usual taste.

"I don't know. There's just something, he's so mysterious. Don't you think? Not to mention he's gorgeous! Trust me Parvati, I'll have him soon enough." Lavender explained, and Hermione thought she had best find out who this boy was quickly so she could warn him.

"Okay Lavender, as long as you really like him this time." Parvati said unsurely, and Hermione opened her curtains again, now changed. Parvati blinked a few times and looked between Hermione and Lavender a few times. "Actually Hermione, could you do us a favour?"

Hermione looked skeptically at them. Usually a favour for Parvati and Lavender meant them begging her to do their homework, which she always refused to do.

"That depends, what is it?" She answered, pulling out her toiletry bag in her trunk.

"Well, you spent the summer at George's, right?" Parvati said, and Lavender's eyes brightened as it clicked what Parvati was asking Hermione.

"Yes. Why do you want to know?" She replied, sincerely hoping they weren't going to ask her about any sex advice or how to meet the boyfriend's mother tips.

"So you must have spent time with his brothers."

Hermione looked over at Lavender and Parvati. Her eyes flashed between the two and she swallowed, knowing who Lavender was interested in. It didn't take that much of a genius to work it out. Lavender wouldn't want Bill, Charlie or Percy, since they were no longer at Hogwarts and she wouldn't have seen them recently otherwise. The twins weren't exactly 'quiet' or 'mysterious' as they put it, so that left only one.

"You have a crush on Ron?" Hermione asked, blinking several times and coughed slightly from trying to get the words out. Even her throat seemed to protest at the idea of Lavender fancying him.

Lavender's jaw dropped at Hermione's quick thinking and she hastily changed her expression to an accusing look.

"Yes, how do you know? Have you been reading my diary? You're such a bookworm I wouldn't put it past you." Lavender snapped, and Hermione sighed angrily, not believing this girl's stupidity at times.

"No. It's pretty easy to work out since Ron's the only Weasley brother in Hogwarts that could be referred to as 'mysterious'." She quickly explained, and Parvati and Lavender exchanged astounded looks.

"Well, anyway- so you know him then?" Lavender said, not bothering to apologise.

"Yes."

"Do you reckon you could perhaps bring me up in the next conversation you two have then?" Lavender begged, giving her puppy dog eyes. Hermione wasn't sure what Lavender was trying to accomplish by giving her that look, it was positively laughable rather than gaining her sympathy.

"I suppose I could try."

"Oh thank you Hermione! You're such a good friend!" Lavender squealed, and jumped up flinging her arms around her. Hermione barely had time to register that she was being hugged by Lavender before she jumped away again, clapping her hands happily. _The good friend you insulted two minutes ago and still haven't apologised for,_ Hermione thought bitterly before going to brush her teeth.

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><p>The next day, Hermione and Harry were in Potions with Professor Slughorn and the other Gryffindors and Slytherins. Professor Slughorn was stood in front of the class, showing them the <em>Amortentia <em>potion.

"Now, can anyone explain to me what the _Amortentia_ potion is?" Professor Slughorn asked the class, and no-one even attempted to put their hands up since Hermione's shot up the moment he said 'explain'. "Yes, Miss-."

"Granger, sir. It's the most powerful love potion in the world." She answered enthusiastically, as the rest of the girl's eyes gleamed. There was a knock at the door and hesitantly Ron stepped inside making Lavender gasp.

"Sorry I'm late Professor." He apologised, and Slughorn sighed.

"It's fine, just hurry up." Slughorn snapped, and Ron hastily walked over where the rest of the class was, briefly smiling at Hermione. "Please continue Miss…"

"Granger." She repeated, "It's supposed to smell differently to each person according to what attracts them. For example; I smell freshly mown grass, new parchment and a faint apple scent." She explained, slightly baffled about the smell of apples.

"Wonderful Miss Granger, twenty points to Gryffindor!"

"Does George smell of apples then?" Harry whispered to her, and she glared at him, giving him a look that he should be quiet. Professor Slughorn continued explaining the _Amortentia_ potion and then asked the class to make an attempt of _The Draught of Living Death_.

Harry and Hermione started working on the same table and he flipped open the front cover of his potions book, glancing at the name of who it used to belong to. He shrugged his shoulders and found the page for the potion they were making.

"Hermione, have you ever heard of the 'Half Blood Prince'?" Harry asked, studying the notes the 'Half Blood Prince' had made on the pages.

"No. It's probably a silly nickname for someone who used to go here." She answered, starting to cut the valerian roots.

"Hey Hermione, Harry. Do you mind if I work here? There are no other free places." Ron requested, walking over and she looked up at him.

"Of course not, Ron." She replied, quickly going back to her potion. Harry smiled at Ron which he returned before they set to work on their potions. They worked silently for a few minutes and Hermione glanced at her potion to see it being a deep purple colour rather than a lilac. She glanced over at Harry's to see his was a perfect lilac colour and he was stirring it anti-clockwise.

"Harry, what are you doing? It says to stir the potion clockwise." She said agitated, and Ron looked at the two of them. His potion was currently still at the first stage of colour being a blackcurrant shade.

"I know but this 'Half Blood Prince' has written all over the page so I couldn't make it out. I started following his notes and it's working perfectly." He answered, almost resembling Hermione with his concentrated gaze on the potion.

"Harry! What are you thinking? Those notes are written by a complete stranger! They could be dangerous!" She retorted, and stirred her potion clockwise.

"It looks fine." Ron included, causing Hermione to stir her potion far more furiously. He let out a small snigger and went back to his potion.

Despite her numerous protests, Harry continued making the potion with the Half Blood Prince's notes and managed to win the Felix Felicis prize. Needless to say, Hermione was annoyed with the outcome and it took a lot of time to change her mood. This was not helped by Harry studying the Half Blood Prince's book at dinner.

"Hey look Hermione, you and Harry are such good friends he's slowly turning into you." George commented, unknowingly to Harry. Harry continued fixating on the page and took a bite of his Yorkshire pudding which nearly fell out of his mouth. Hermione glared at the book and then at Harry.

"Harry, I'm telling you stop reading that! It's dangerous!" She snapped, and Harry ignored her.

"How's it dangerous?" Ginny asked, looking concerned.

"It supposedly belongs to someone called the 'Half Blood Prince'. Harry followed the notes he made rather than the potion book itself. It's reckless." Hermione snapped, taking her anger out on her food.

"Harry, you should listen to Hermione." Ginny said, and he finally looked away from the book at her.

"It's fine Ginny. It's innocent." Harry said, and Ginny glared at him icily, picking up her bag.

"Yeah, just like Tom Marvolo Riddle's Diary was perfectly innocent." She retorted, abruptly standing up and storming off.

"Wait Ginny! I didn't mean…" Harry sighed and finally closed the book. He put it in his bag and ran after her. Despite the situation, Hermione smiled and shook her head in disbelief.

"You should know, Harry fancies Ginny." Hermione stated to Fred and George, who looked at her with the exact same wide eyed expression. They then looked at eachother and grinned cheekily.

"Brilliant." They both said in unison, and she bit her lip wondering if it was the best idea to tell them.

"I swear if you say anything George-" Hermione started, and George sighed.

"Hermione, you have so little faith in me! We won't say anything." George said, and looked at Fred.

"Obvious." He finished.

"I guess that's the best I'm going to get." She sighed and glanced at her watch. She took one last mouthful of food and pulled her bag on over her shoulder. "I've got to go."

"And teach dear Ronniekins." Fred said, in a soppy tone.

"Honestly, I do wonder if you two will ever grow up to an age older than your shoe size." She sighed and they shrugged their shoulders. She pecked George's lips and stood up.

She walked briskly to the library and went to a table that was clearly in view from the entrance. She pulled out her books and decided that they would start on Charms for tonight. She flipped to the first page, figuring she'd have to learn what he knew first and then they could go on from there. She looked at her watch again and saw he still had five minutes so she got out her Ancient Runes essay which was due in two weeks, and started the introduction.

A quarter of an hour later a slightly sweaty and breathless Ron rushed up to her. Hermione caught the smell of apples as he slowed and she glanced at him coldly before checking her watch.

"You're late." She snapped, and he sat down in the chair opposite her.

"Lost track of time. I was flying." He replied, and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.

"And you think that's an appropriate excuse?" She continued snapping, and he rolled his eyes.

"Well, I can't wear a watch flying. It could get broken so you just sort of have to guess." He explained hopefully, still out of breath.

"Then you should have left with plenty of time." She retorted, making him groan.

"It was only ten minutes. You were getting on with an essay weren't you? It wasn't like you didn't have anything to do while you waited." He snapped.

"That's not the point. The point is if you're going to choose a time that's appropriate for you then the least you could do is show up at that time."

"And now we're wasting even more time." He mumbled, and she gritted her teeth before taking a breath.

"Why were you even out flying? You're not on the team." She stated heatedly.

"So? Can I not enjoy doing it just because I'm not on the team?" He snapped, with a slight glare. Clearly this was something that had irked Ron over the years so Hermione chose not to say anything else about it.

"Let's just get on with this. I thought we could start with Charms and see how we do. First, I'll have to know how much you can do. So here's a list of all the charms we'll be learning this year." She explained, and took out a piece of parchment tucked in her Charms book, handing it to him. He glanced over it and sighed.

"Don't know any of them." He admitted, not caring in the slightest.

"Right, we're going to be here awhile then." She said, and he groaned again.

Two hours passed, during which Hermione's hair had doubled in size and her fingers were stained with blotches of ink. There was a vast amount of parchment surrounding them with Hermione's perfect handwriting all over them. She ran a hand through her hair sighing and then pressed her fingers to her temples, leaning back in her chair.

"What spell would you use to slow an advancing object?" She asked hoarsely, and Ron shut his eyes tightly, wracking his brain for the answer.

"Immobulus?" He said hopefully, and she ran a hand down her face.

"Close, Impedimenta." She replied, and he groaned angrily.

"I don't even know why I'm bothering. I'm obviously rubbish at all this." He sighed, crossing his arms and she swallowed.

"Don't say that. You've improved a lot. At the beginning, you couldn't even say Immobulus. What does Immobulus do again?" She asked, wondering if this technique would work better than the 'revise, question, answer' method they'd been using.

"Stops it completely." He answered instantly, and she grinned. He opened an eye glancing at her and saw her expression. "I got it right?"

She nodded and he beamed. "Yes, your wording could be better but you got it right." She replied, and tried hiding her yawn.

"You mind if we take a break for a few minutes?" He groaned, and stretched his arms.

"Okay." She replied, taking off her cloak and rolling up her sleeves.

They sat in silence for a minute while Hermione organised the notes she made for Ron. He looked her up and down and let out a small chuckle. She glanced at him and noticed his staring.

"What?" She asked, making him give her that lopsided grin.

"Nothing, you just never stop do you?" He said, and she furrowed her eyebrows.

"I guess. Otherwise life would get a bit dull."

"Yeah but don't you ever just lie back and relax?" He questioned, leaning back in his chair putting his hands behind his head.

"I do that enough when I'm asleep." She retorted, finishing organizing the notes.

"Don't you get stressed out though?" He asked, with a hint of concern as she got out more parchment.

"No." She lied, and flipped through her Charms book until she got to the page she wanted and started making more notes.

"You're lying." He noted, and her writing became harsher.

"So what if I am? I like keeping myself busy. I have a future to work towards, which you do too." She retorted acidly, not liking his lazy work attitude.

"Yeah. You don't have to work towards it every minute of the day. You can just live in the moment, you know?" He suggested, and her quill went straight through the parchment. She sighed impatiently and crumpled up the parchment.

"I can't." She snapped, beginning the notes again.

"Why?" He asked. He was deliberately trying to get a rise out of her now. If that was the way he was going to get answers, then so be it. She stopped writing and slammed the quill on the desk.

"Because I have to. I have to be prepared for anything that could happen. I'm not a moron, I know being a muggleborn and being Harry's best friend makes me a very easy target. Therefore if I'm ever in the situation where I have to defend myself, I know exactly what to do. I've already let my guard down too many times." She would have shouted this if they weren't in the library but considering they were, she said all of it in a hushed tone. Nonetheless, it didn't make it any less spiteful.

"How?" He asked, and she groaned.

"I'm sorry, I thought this was a tutoring session not an interrogation." She grumbled, and he gave her a serious look.

"I don't mind changing it if it'll get some answers out of you."

She swallowed and took a moment to compose herself. She asked herself whether it was worth telling him why she felt this way. She couldn't deny that a huge part of her wanted too, and she had felt incredibly close to Ron over the past few weeks. He understood her and why she did certain things that people found annoying. It would also be a great weight off her shoulders to talk to someone about it.

"Why do you care so much anyway?" She asked, interested in his answer and frowned at her.

"Don't give me that. I'm your friend aren't I?" He snapped.

"A friend wouldn't push me like this." She answered in the same tone.

"Like you weren't pushing me about me being in Slytherin." His voice was rising now and she glanced at Madam Pince to see her giving Ron a harsh look.

"That- that…" Hermione said quietly, feeling her heart sink. She hadn't been honest yesterday and she knew it. She had been pitying him and he knew she had been, he'd only backed down because she did have a point that he didn't open up to anyone. She was wrong and after having time to think over it, she couldn't believe how hypocritical she had been. They had only known eachother a few weeks and he was right with what he had just said. She had pushed him and she'd been incredibly insensitive. "You're right."

He blinked a few times in disbelief as his anger diminished. She glanced up at him and said, "I'm so sorry, Ron. I wasn't treating you as my friend and I was being incredibly selfish. You're clearly not comfortable discussing _that_ and I shouldn't have tried demanding it out of you like I did.

"It's just, I've been best friends with Harry for so long and he's such a secretive person, that sometimes I do have to take a firm hand and force him to tell me things, even if he's not comfortable with it because it's more of a 'guy thing' as he likes to call it." She explained, causing Ron to snigger at the last part. She gave him a small smile and continued, "I'm not saying this as an excuse, but I was probably doing the same to you and that wasn't fair. I know you're not him and I should have listened to you. What you have to know about me is I'm not comfortable with admitting I'm wrong."

"You don't say." He interjected sarcastically with a soft smile on his face. She rolled her eyes at him but a playful smile worked its way onto her features.

"So when I am, I tend to realise it a bit too late.

"What I'm trying to say is how truly sorry I am for doing that to you and I won't ever put you through it again." She finished, and he gave her an appreciative smile.

"Thanks Hermione, I really needed to hear that." He said honestly, and she let out a sigh of relief.

"I did mean what I said though. I am here for you, you know that right?" She said seriously, and he smiled even more.

"Yeah. Now, I do." He said. She grinned at him but it slowly turned serious when she remembered how her apologising had even come up.

"Do you really want to know why I can never relax?" She asked hesitantly, and his smile dissolved.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to know, but if you're not comfortable explaining why then don't feel -" He started.

"No, I do want to explain. That's part of the problem." She interrupted, and saw him give her a perplexed look, "Part of the reason I can never relax is just because I've never really had anyone I can ever open up to about my own problems. Harry's got enough to worry about as it is and I've tried to talk to George before but - I don't know. He could never really understand why I feel a certain way even if I did explain why. It's not as if he hasn't tried to understand because he honestly has, but in the end, it just wasn't right. I've tried with Ginny before as well but it's the same problem with George again.

"It's hard to explain why but it's as if Ginny, George, Harry, even my parents are just not the right people. I need to be able to talk to someone I'm comfortable with, who doesn't need to force the answer out of me. Someone who I could happily go and talk to, knowing they'd be happy to sit and listen. Do you understand what I mean?" She said cautiously.

"I think I understand more than you would think." He said truthfully, somehow feeling the exact same way she did. "I mean, I've tried talking to my family before about some stuff but the ones who'd bother trying to listen to me would worry too much and I don't want to put them through that. A bit of worrying actually helps but I just know they'd blow it way out of proportion."

"Exactly." Hermione agreed enthusiastically, "I want someone to be able to comfort me just by being there."

"Yeah, you're right." He said, as a comforting feeling ran through him as he looked into her eyes. It seemed as if him and Hermione had more in common than they thought. In some ways, she had been just as lonely as he had, like she was cut off from the world.

She practically beamed at him for a minute, thinking the exact same thing to him. The smile slowly vanished as she thought about what she wanted to say.

"A lot of the reason I feel I can't relax though is not just because I don't have someone to open up to." She began, and saw how all of Ron's attention was solely on her, "I know how unusual my life is and I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've literally been terrified for my life.

"In my first year, I nearly got killed by a troll. My second year, I was petrified. Third year, I nearly got attacked by a werewolf."

She swallowed and took a breath before disclosing what she had been aching to tell someone, "And last year at the Department of Mysteries, I got cursed by Dolohov. It was non-verbal so no-one had a clue what it was and I still to this day don't know what it was. I've got this horrible scar that I'm going to have for the rest of my life and there's this constant pain that comes with it.

"I thought being in the Hospital Wing for days with unbelievable pain was bad enough. I preferred that to this though. It's as if there's an ache in my chest which is refusing to leave so I've just learnt to live with it. The worst thing about it though is that when I'm in pain or depressed, it's as if the ache intensifies.

"Now, I've never actually been terribly depressed or in that much pain so I'm not sure how painful it could become or if the pain will ever go away.

"In a way, I feel the need to spend all my time preparing myself for what could happen. Everytime I let my guard down, something like this could happen again or I could get petrified again or be nearly killed by troll. The worst part would be if something happened to me and it meant Harry would let his guard down - we all know what could happen if he did that at the wrong place, at the wrong time.

"I refuse to let that happen though, if I have to I'll spend my life preparing for anything that could happen. If that means I get stressed out or come off as someone who's controlling then fine, I can live with that. What I don't want to happen is to be unprepared."

When she finished, she took in several deep breaths and looked at Ron expectedly. He appeared to be rather overwhelmed with everything she said and he scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

She was surprised by how much better she felt for letting all of it out. To be honest, she felt better than she had in a long time.

She came out of her daze and saw Ron still looking overwhelmed. She bit her lip nervously, starting to wonder whether or not it was the best idea to reveal so much of herself too him. Of course, how could she have been so stupid? It was far too much, there was no other explanation for his silence but it was at that moment he chose to speak,

"You can't keep living like this."

She frowned at him, not expecting that response, "Why?"

"Because – can't you see what it's doing to you?" He said incredulously.

"I'm fine just the way I am." She said stubbornly, making him scoff.

"No you bloody aren't. You can't be constantly on edge all the time, it'll drive you barking mad." He answered.

"How? I've been perfectly happy." She insisted.

"That's bull shit and you know it. What was all that stuff you were saying before about never being able to open up to anyone? Now that you have, how much better do you feel?" He pointed out, and she sighed.

"I suppose, I do feel better." She reluctantly admitted.

"You see, now if you can relax once in a while then imagine how much that feeling what increase." He stated, and she blinked a few times in surprise. She couldn't deny how much of a valid point he made.

"I guess that's true." She said, making him grin and she feigned a glare at him. "Oh, get that smug grin off your face."

He chuckled and she couldn't help laughing with him.

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><p>When Hermione was making her way to the Gryffindor common room, her thoughts were plagued by Ronald Weasley. It was strange how close they had gotten but it felt natural at the same time. It was as if they'd known eachother for years, clichéd as it was to say that. Admittedly they argued…a lot. It undoubtedly would happen between two incredibly stubborn people but they understood it was a part of their friendship. It seemed obvious that she had finally found the person she could open up to and hopefully, he would be able to do the same with her. The only question was she had absolutely no idea when that time would come due to her instance on the Hogwart's Express. She was feeling far less guilty over it now that she had apologised and he'd accepted it but she still had a feeling he wouldn't be forgetting how she treated him just like anyone else anytime soon.<p>

She walked in the common room to see it full of people but amidst everyone she managed to find Ginny talking with Neville at a table in the corner. She walked over to the pair of them and sat herself down next to Ginny.

"Hey, Hermione. How'd tutoring Ron go?" Ginny asked instantly, with an edge of concern in her tone. Hermione smiled warmly at her, sensing that Ginny worried about Ron more than she let on.

"It went really well. Once he puts his mind to something, he can do it really well." Hermione said honestly, and Ginny beamed.

Neville shifted awkwardly reminding both the girls it wasn't just them in this conversation. Hermione turned towards him giving him a polite smile.

"How was your summer, Neville? I don't think I've spoken to you since we got back." Hermione said.

"It was fine thanks. My gran was probably a bit too…well, you know how she is. Me and Ginny were actually talking about Snape being made the new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher." Neville said, and Hermione ran a hand through her hair.

"Yes, I admit it is a bit odd but I suppose Dumbledore must have had a good reason for doing it. He's trusted Snape all this time and we've never had any reason to doubt him. You never know he could make a good teacher." She said, causing both Neville and Ginny to give her a look of disbelief. "I'm just saying we can't judge him until we've had a lesson with him."

"If he's not though, do you reckon we could start up the D.A again?" Neville said hopefully.

"I don't think there'd be any point. Snape is an utter twat but he is going to teach us." Ginny voiced, ignoring Hermione's stern look hearing her language. Neville couldn't mask his disappointment.

"Oh, Luna and I were saying how much fun we had last year." He said, as Ginny and Hermione shared a look.

"That doesn't mean we still can't hang out." Ginny answered.

"Yes Neville, we're friends. That's not going to stop because we're no longer in the D.A." Hermione said reassuringly, and he smiled.

The three continued talking for awhile longer before Hermione decided to call it a night and made her way up to the dormitories. Lavender was getting on with some Divination, but the moment she saw Hermione she instantly discarded her work.

"Hey Hermione." Lavender began in a sickeningly sweet tone, and Hermione dreaded what Lavender was going to ask of her. "You're partnered up with Ron for prefect patrols, right?"

"That's right." Hermione said, knowing what she was going to ask, "And no I'm not willing to swap partners with you."

Lavender huffed, pouting unattractively as Hermione walked over to her bed.

"Why not?" Lavender whined.

"Because you're with Malfoy and I don't want to be stuck with him using every second of the time patrolling to torment me." She stated, taking off her tie.

"Please Hermione. He'll probably just do the same to me." Lavender begged, and Hermione nearly scoffed.

"No he won't. He'll just be hitting on you the entire time."

"Oh Hermione stop! I'm not good enough for him."

Hermione shut her curtains around her bed and changed into her pyjamas, wondering how this girl managed to pass her O.. She got in bed, for some reason feeling guilty about her answer to Lavender. She knew that being partnered with Malfoy was partly the reason why she still wanted to be with Ron. Another was that she was his friend. But the biggest part was that, she didn't like the idea of Ron being with Lavender.

She knew it was an incredibly selfish thought coming from her but she couldn't help how she felt. She doubted Ron would appreciate it either, Lavender was known for her slightly annoying personality. In a way, she was doing him a favour. It wasn't as if he liked Lavender the way she liked him. Was it?

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><p><strong>A:N I know, we're finally seeing a different side to Hermione and it's all because of Ron. Turns out she's not just a snappy, stressed-out girl. Yes I was aware of it and yes, it was intentional. I wanted to show the effect of not growing up with Ron had on her. He made her a better person in the books by helping her become friendlier and able to make her joke. So for the past six years, Hermione's essentially been the first year book Hermione before she became friends with Harry and Ron.**

**Now, how many of you thought I was going to incorporate Lavender into this story? Come on, I want to know xD I know Lavender seems pretty one-sided at the moment but it won't always seem that way.**

**Once again, thanks for all the responses guys! It means so much to me and even though some of you don't agree with what I put into this story, it's nice that I have some truly dedicated people still interested :) **

**Also thanks KING, loptopkop and La La Loony.**

**RonHermioneFan – if you read my Author's Notes in Chapter 4 you would have noticed I said I'm not going to write George/Hermione like that so calm yo' tits :P**

**Also thanks to Sandrinha's review (you always leave such in depth reviews, and I LOVE IT) but I wanted to address some of the points you made: **

**-Concerning the argument between Ron and Hermione in the last chapter, hopefully her apology in this chapter made her actions more understandable, still wrong, but understandable. I just don't want to give Hermione the perfect image people have, so I deliberately made her act that way in the last chapter.**

**-I explained her snappish/scolding personality earlier in my Author's Notes so hopefully that would have answered your thoughts about it. **

**-The whole making it seem Hermione's the victim and making Ron seem like he was having an immature temper tantrum, this is just my P.O.V, but I personally think J.K writes a few of their arguments that way. I'm not criticizing her as a writer at all it's just seems to be a Hermione tactic in an argument when she knows she could be in the wrong (E.G: her argument with Ron at the Yule Ball when she ends it by saying '…pluck up the courage and ask me before somebody else does' she blames Ron for not asking her to the ball sooner, but who's to say she couldn't have asked him?) I'm not saying she does this all the time but it's just something I've noticed when she has been in the wrong in their arguments.**

**-You've totally caught on to my weakest point though. I really am not good at writing Harry, I can describe Harry fine it's just writing him is so difficult for me. I can't explain why it's just not one of my strengths. All I can hope for is that I improve in the future!**

**Thanks again everyone! Reviews are love ;)**


	6. Chapter 6

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=Rpx_PcZjByY**

**Copy, paste and replace the closed brackets with fullstops.**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 6

Other Competition

"_I looked into your eyes and saw_

_A world I wish I was in_

_I'll never find some quite as touched as you_

_I'll never love some quite the way_

_That I loved you."_

_Touched - VAST_

"Is this going to become a regular thing? Because I would much rather spend the time I wait for you doing something productive." Hermione snapped at Ron, as he ran up to her in the entrance hall. She had her hands on her hips with her hair about double the size it usually was and if looks could kill, Ronald Weasley would be a dead man.

She had spent the past quarter of an hour waiting for Ron and would naturally be annoyed at his lateness. Today though, she was especially annoyed because she could have done with the time she would spend patrolling to work on her Potions essay.

He slowed down and stopped a foot away from her, breathing heavily. He swallowed and loosened his tie and she became aware of the sweat covering him. She gave him a curious look and he took a few more deep breaths before replying,

"Sorry. I was out-" He started.

"-flying. Tell me, why is it that the only thing every boy in this school cares about is Quidditch?" She snapped, and they started walking. His eyebrows raised and he put his hands in his pockets.

"Someone's in a mood." He commented, with a lopsided grin and she glared at him.

"Oh ha ha! Honestly, all I've heard from Harry and George is Quidditch, Quidditch, Quidditch. It's getting on my nerves." She said with her voice rising, crossing her arms beneath her chest.

"Actually, I was just out flying. I wasn't practicing Quidditch. There's a difference." He said in a knowledgeable tone impersonating her. If she was in a better mood, she probably would have laughed at how atrocious it was but all it served in doing now was infuriating her more.

"First of all, I sound nothing like that! Secondly, there's only a small difference. It's like me saying there's a difference between writing an essay and researching." She stated hotly, beginning to walk faster.

"Really? I had no idea there was a difference." He replied sarcastically, and she glared at him, "Oh come on, I was kidding! Lighten up a bit."

"Strangely enough, I can't just lighten up because _you_ want me too." She retorted, and he rolled his eyes.

"Please." He whined, with a puppy dog expression. She glanced at him and couldn't hold back the laughter seeing how ridiculous his face looked. He smiled hearing her laugh and once her laughter died down, she did her best to put on her most serious expression.

"Okay but I swear if you're late again because of flying, I will hex you into the next century." She threatened, pointing her finger at him as he sniggered. "I mean it."

"I wasn't saying I didn't believe you." He defended, holding his hands up in mock surrender. She smiled, despite telling herself not to.

There was a silence between the two for a few minutes and she heard him sigh, appearing to be debating about something in his head. She looked at him and had a feeling she knew what he was so conflicted about.

"Ron, about what I said at the tutoring session-" She began, and he tensed

"I wasn't thinking about that." He said abruptly, blatantly lying and she took a breath trying to calm down.

"Ron, please. I wanted you to know I'm sorry." She apologised, and saw him grit his teeth.

"Why the hell would you do that? For what that bastard, Dolohov did, I would have-" He started hotly, and she wished he would stop interrupting her.

"No, not for that. I mean, I shouldn't have said all of it. I dropped a lot onto your shoulders and I was being selfish. I should have considered what it would do to you. I was being ignorant and…" She explained, and felt her voice getting quieter as she continued to the point she couldn't talk anymore.

Admittedly, she had felt great at first for opening up to him but when she had more time to think about it, she realised she hadn't thought about what it would be like for Ron knowing that about her. It made her feel guilty thinking how he could be worrying about her rather than himself.

His gaze softened and he was about to rest a comforting hand on her shoulder. He sighed angrily and let his arm drop, something inside of him holding him back. He settled for taking a step closer to her.

"Hermione, don't. I get that you feel like you have to act strong all the time for other people. But don't feel like you have to around me." He said in a tone that told her not to argue with him. This being Hermione, she ignored the hint.

"It wasn't fair on you. We've only known eachother, what? A month? And I'm already spilling my secrets to you." She replied, and looked up into his eyes to see them full of compassion.

"Why does that matter? I don't mind. I care about you Hermione." He explained, and his eyes immediately widened and his ears went red at his declaration. "I mean you know, in a-"

"It's all right Ron. I care about you too." She replied, feeling a blush rise in her cheeks. Their eyes met and they both looked away blushing even more. She tucked her hair behind her ear and pulled her bag up on her shoulder, doing her best not to glance at Ron again. She wasn't sure why she suddenly got a comforting feeling, knowing they shared similar feelings about eachother. It wasn't the same feeling she got with Harry. It was different and unusual. It made her insides heat up and made her feel safe and secure. She did her best to ignore the feeling and they continued walking in an awkward silence for a few minutes.

They had made it to the third floor without saying a word to eachother and the tension was becoming unbearable. Their blushes had long died down but they still said nothing, both trapped in their thoughts with their previous words haunting them. Hermione's head screamed at her to say something to break the ice and consequently she said the first thing that came into her head.

"You should probably know that Lavender Brown has a crush on you."

Ron looked dumbfounded for a few seconds. He blinked a few times and his mouth dropped slightly. He let the words sink in and immediately burst out laughing, throwing his head back. She looked at him unsurely and bit her bottom lip.

"That's funny Hermione. Of course she does." Ron said. She sighed, not wanting to say it again.

"I'm serious, she really does." She said with no hint of a joke in her tone, and he laughed some more.

"I never knew you were such a joker Hermione." He answered, looking at her for the first time in ten minutes. She was tempted to stamp her foot in her growing frustration, but held it back not wanting to come off as an immature girl.

"Ron, I'm telling the honest truth. Lavender Brown fancies you." She stated, and he finally seemed to take her seriously. He looked at her to double check and proceeded to blink several times.

"Really?" He asked nervously, and she groaned.

"Yes. What made you think I'd joke about that?" She said, irritated with his reluctance to believe her.

"Well I never thought she would like a guy like me, that's all." He answered shyly, and she took a breath, telling herself to not snap at him again. He appeared to have a low opinion of himself so it was only natural for him to think of her statement as a joke.

"I admit I was surprised when I found out. It's kind of annoying, she keeps on asking me all these questions about you as if she's my best friend." She admitted, and he smiled.

"And she isn't?" He asked feigning horror, and she rolled her eyes.

"No. Lavender and I don't have too much in common. She asked me if I could find out how you feel about her." She confessed, glancing at him to see if she could see how he felt. His expression however was rather unreadable so she continued staring straight ahead.

"Huh. I don't really know her." He affirmed, and Hermione's lips pursed wanting more of an answer then that.

"That's not much of an answer." She insisted, and he ran a hand through his hair making it stick up at odd angles.

"To be honest, she's not really my type." He revealed, and she couldn't deny her slight astonishment.

"Really? I thought she was everyone's type."

"Well she's not mine. I'm sure if I took the time to get to know her she'd be a nice enough girl. I'm just not interested." He concluded, and Hermione couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face in relief. She wasn't entirely sure why she was so relieved to discover he didn't have feelings for this girl. She put it down to knowing that he had some standards and decided to leave it at that.

"Good to know. I'll tell her that in a more subtle way though." She said, and he gave her his lopsided grin as a response. She beamed at him before saying, "You know, it's a shame we haven't known eachother longer."

Ron's eyebrows rose in surprise, not expecting her to say that so out-of-the-blue, but he didn't deny that he felt similarly.

"Yeah, it is." He said, and the smile slowly slipped off his face.

"I think we could have in third year."

She recalled the attacks Ron suffered from Sirius that year. If she remembered correctly, after the first attack, her and Harry had actually tried talking to him several times but could never seem to find him. Or whenever they had tried, he had made an excuse to leave or acted as if he hadn't heard them.

"Urr…yeah, sorry about that. I was a bit of a prick that year." He admitted guiltily, and awkwardly scratched at the back of his head. Seeing her curious expression he explained, "It's just - after the first attack, people finally started paying attention to me. For the first time in my life, I was getting noticed and people were actually talking to me. Don't get me wrong at first it was great, bloody brilliant in fact, but after a few days, it sort of became clear that no-one was actually interested in _me_. They just wanted to hear about that attack and that was it, no-one wanted to take the time to get to know me afterwards. No-one wanted to be friends with me and when I realised that, I pushed everyone away. I was happier alone than having people pay attention for a few seconds then piss off again.

"So I sort of assumed you and Harry were just doing the same really. No offence or anything, I don't think that now obviously, but at the time it seemed like that was the only reason."

Hermione bit her bottom lip. If she was being honest with herself, which she was, her and Harry were doing exactly what everyone else had been doing to Ron. Realising what that had put him through, she couldn't help feeling guilty over it, even though she had no idea about Ron's suffering in her third year.

Pushing her guilty feelings aside she said, "Of course. It's perfectly understandable, Ron."

He gave her a small appreciative smile in response so she continued, "I don't know if you know this but for the second attack, Harry and I were actually there for a part of it."

"Really?" He said shocked.

"Yes, but I think you were unconscious by the time we got there." She said vaguely, not remembering the exact details.

"Yeah, well umm - Black had just broke my arm and leg, and I'd lost a fair bit of blood. I'd found out he wasn't actually a killer but my rat was instead - who was really an animagus of Peter Pettigrew so… you can't exactly blame me, can you?" He rambled, chuckling light heartedly with his ears going pink in embarrassment.

"Oh no! I wasn't thinking any less of you for it. It was just, I don't know if you know this, but Fred and George had this map…" She trailed off to see him look at her confused, "It's this map of Hogwarts that shows all the secret passages into it as well as marking everyone on it."  
>"Wicked." He said awestruck for a moment, before he thought about it for a second. "Hang on, why did they never give that to me? I'm their brother! That's hardly fair-"<p>

"Ron, I'm actually trying to explain something here." She interrupted strictly, and he blinked a few times before comprehension dawned on his face.

"Right, sorry. Go on."

"Well, we were planning on visiting Hagrid at the time and we wanted to make sure the grounds were fairly clear when we saw on the map that it marked you being dragged into the Whomping Willow by Sirius Black with Peter Pettigrew. When we went down there and managed to get through, Lupin was also there and they explained the story to us. After that, Snape arrived as well-"

"Wait, Snape was there?" He asked, not remembering that part at all.

"Yes, he followed Lupin or something, I can't quite remember. Harry actually stunned him!" She said proudly, and Ron burst out laughing. Hermione let out a snigger of her own before he sighed regretfully.

"I wish I could have seen that!" He stated.

"I can't say I blame you. Anyway, once we got out of the Shrieking Shack-" She began, only to have him interrupt again.

"Oh was that where the passage way lead to?" He asked, having always wondered where he was lead to but had never found out.

"Ron!" She whined.

"Sorry! Carry on."

"_Anyway,_ once we got out of the Shrieking Shack back to Hogwarts, we were going to levitate you to the Hospital Wing but then the full moon came up and I assume you know the rest." She finished, and he nodded.

"I think everyone knows about Lupin being a werewolf and then Black mysteriously escaping from the Dementor's." He admitted, and she nodded in agreement. She decided to save the story about how it was actually her and Harry that were behind Sirius's escape since Ron had just learnt an awful lot of new information. Not to mention she was far more eager to know about his hostility towards them afterwards. Although, since he had never been made aware of her and Harry's presence in the second attack, it seemed fair enough. She briefly wondered why he had never been told, before her wanting to determine why Ron had avoided them overcame that question. She already suspected why but always needing to know the facts, she still said,

"After that, Harry and I tried to talk to you but you were in the Hospital Wing until the end of term and Madam Pomfrey refused to let anyone speak to you..."

"Yeah, with everything that happened after the first attack, I didn't want the same thing happening again so I sort of told her I didn't want any visitors. Sorry." He said, proving her suspicions to be correct.

"Don't worry about it. We probably should have made more of an effort to speak with you after you were released." She said reluctantly, never enjoying having to admit she was wrong.

"Probably wouldn't have listened to you anyway." Ron said, sensing her hesitance, "Even if it weren't for the summer holidays being straight after."

She smiled awkwardly at him, remembering after that summer, her and Harry didn't bother trying to find out how Ron got dragged into the Shrieking Shack. They'd pretty much forgotten about it with everyone being so worried about what happened at the Quidditch World Cup.

Now that the opportunity had presented itself, with her curiosity rising again, she found herself asking, "How did you get dragged down into the Whomping Willow?"

"Oh, it's not that exciting I'm afraid. I was out in the grounds for a walk when Black saw me holding my rat. Just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time." He explained simply.

Hermione couldn't mask her disappointment with the explanation given, it wasn't very informative and all it had been was as he put it, 'being in the wrong place at the wrong time'.

"I still can't believe Fred and George gave you that map instead of me!" He exclaimed, breaking her out of her chain of thoughts. She rolled her eyes at his indignation and stifled a small laugh. With everything he just discovered, that was the part he chose to focus on?

"They didn't actually give it to me, they gave it to Harry since he knew them and they knew he couldn't get into Hogsmeade. His aunt and uncle wouldn't sign the form for him." She informed him, hoping it would dissolve some of his irritation.

"Oh, how'd they get to know him?" Ron asked.

"Quidditch." Hermione half lied. She knew the majority of the reason was also because of them all being in Gryffindor, but she had been made aware of how much of a sensitive topic the school houses were with Ron and she didn't want to hurt him anymore than she already had.

They continued their patrols in a comfortable talk and luckily didn't have to separate any couples who had tried sneaking off. Until they were up on the seventh floor and opened a broom closet to find a pair of heavily snogging seventh years. Ron's ears proceeded to turn bright red and he stammered at the sight of them meaning Hermione had to take over.

"That's ten points from Hufflepuff for being out past curfew and disregarding the rules addressing-" Hermione snapped, as the guy rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Like I care, now why don't you run along. I'm not letting some sixth year tell me what to do." He retorted, and put his hand on the door handle about to pull it closed with him and his girlfriend still inside. Hermione glared at him and put a hand on the door to prevent him from doing so.

"I happen to be a prefect! Unless you want a detention along with more point deductions, you should return to your house immediately." She threatened, only frustrating the guy more. His girlfriend took his hand in hers and gave him a pleading look which he chose to ignore.

"You can threaten me all you want but we're still staying here." He retorted, and proceeded to gently push Hermione's shoulder so her hand was no longer on the door. She stumbled back slightly, not expecting it and was about to answer back, to find Ron's back in her way. He was glaring daggers at the seventh year and was using his height to intimidate him.

"You better get out of here now before I do something I won't regret." He growled, and the seventh year would have been foolish not to believe him, seeing the intensity of Ron's gaze. The Hufflepuff glared back but tugged on his girlfriend's hand and pushed past Ron. They stalked off to the staircase and Hermione cautiously glanced at Ron.

"Honestly Ron, you shouldn't have done that. You're a prefect." She said disapprovingly, as they began walking again.

"I don't care. He shouldn't have treated you like that just because you're younger and a girl." He snapped. She knew he was just being overprotective as an automatic reflex of being an older brother.

"I know. But you shouldn't have threatened him with physical violence. It didn't even hurt." She said, hoping that would be enough to end the conversation. He gritted his teeth and his fists automatically clenched with them.

"He could have though."

She looked ahead and saw the portrait of the Fat Lady causing her to bite her lip.

"Okay. Let's just forget about it, we've finished patrolling now." She said, and they stopped walking. She noticed his angry expression was still strong. "Last chance, I'm going to tell Lavender Brown you're not interested."

She was relieved to see a hesitant broad smile spread across his face and the anger vanished from his face as if it had never been there.

"You tell her that." He replied. She gave him a similar smile to his and said the password to reveal the portrait hole. They said their goodbyes and the devil herself hurried towards Hermione. She grabbed Hermione's arm and dragged her up to the girl's dormitories. She saw George and gave him an apologetic look but he only laughed.

Once inside, Lavender slammed the door shut and Hermione rubbed her sore arm.

"Seriously, Lavender. There was no need for that." She snapped, and the girl rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. So what'd you find out?" She squealed. Hermione had really wanted more time to have thought of a nicer way to put how Ron felt about Lavender but, since she didn't, she improvised.

"I'm sorry Lavender. I asked him how he felt about you but he's really not interested in having a girlfriend right now." Hermione half lied, wanting to spare Lavender's feelings. Admittedly, she despised her but for all Hermione knew if she told the cold honest truth it could break Lavender's heart. However, what she didn't expect was Lavender to brush her off and flick her hair behind her shoulder.

"That's what they all say. Once he sees me in a few more of my revealing outfits, he'll be begging for more." She giggled and strode over to her trunk to pull out some more of her lower tops and shorter skirts. Hermione shook her head in disbelief and gave up on trying to… well, get Lavender to give up too. She went downstairs to spend the evening doing more homework where George would do his best to distract her.

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><p>The next day, was the day of the Quidditch try outs. Hermione reluctantly agreed to watch, even though she was well aware that Fred and George would be made beaters even if Harry wasn't the Quidditch captain. She sat in the stands with a few other girls, who were mainly watching to admire the boys in their Quidditch outfits. She noticed Lavender, Parvati and Padma were sitting as close to the players as possible, giggling and whispering behind their hands.<p>

Hermione had taken a seat high enough to see everything going on but was still able to make out the players. She was seated close to Luna Lovegood, who had come to check if 'wrack spurts made any difference in the way they played Quidditch' to which Hermione had argued that they didn't exist. She had learnt long ago that arguing with Luna always got her nowhere and eventually given up.

She glanced down at the pitch and saw Harry just finishing his introductory talk with them all. He proceeded to fly high up in the air where he would first be holding the try outs for the chasers. She found George joking with Fred to one of the nervous second years who were trying out and rolled her eyes. George caught her gaze and winked at her, where she proceeded to give him a disapproving look, before pulling out her Arithmacy book and essay. She could finish up the conclusion, watch George do his try out and then go up to the library for the rest of the afternoon. It didn't have to be a completely non-productive day.

She had managed to do a few sentences when she nearly jumped out her skin hearing Lavender, Padma and Parvati squeal. She glanced up at them to see they were pointing at the seventh year, Cormac McLaggen. She personally couldn't see what they found so endearing about him. He could be considered attractive, if you were into the overly muscular type of a boy who talked about nothing but himself. She heard him insulting Ginny earlier as well which did nothing but make her dislike for him increase.

She had returned her concentration to her essay, when she heard a swooping sound of someone flying on a broom and a thud close by. She looked around to see Cormac a few seats away from her with his broom in his hand. She furrowed her eyebrows at him disapprovingly and he made his way towards her with an egotistical smile on his face.

"Shouldn't you be on the pitch?" She said, and he sniggered, sitting down beside her a little too close for comfort. He leant back, resting his arms on the bench behind him and looked at her.

"I guess. But the keeper try outs are last and I've got _plenty_ of time before then to kill." He hinted, and she looked back at her essay feeling uncomfortable around him.

"You should still be on the pitch. You're not setting a very good example for the younger students trying out." She commented, and he laughed again.

"Funny Granger." He replied, and she felt his gaze look her up and down. She unconsciously zipped up her jacket more and tried to continue with her work. She still felt him staring at her and found it incredibly distracting so she shut her book and flashed her eyes towards him.

"Look, I don't mean to be rude but is there something you wanted? I'm trying to get on with some work." She snapped irritably, and he smiled at her again in the same egotistical way.

He leant forward, moving closer to her so their legs were touching. She subtly moved slightly further away and tucked some of her hair behind her ear.

"I think you know what I want." He whispered, making shivers crawl up her spine and he placed a hand on her knee. She instantly pushed it away and moved away from him a few more inches.

"Sorry, I have a boyfriend." She snapped, hoping that would be the end of it.

"For now." He said, and she looked at him in disbelief.

"No, not just for now. We've been together for over a year actually." She said, and he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Really?" He questioned, blatantly not believing her.

"Yes. Now, why don't you go bother Lavender or something. I'm sure she'd be interested in you." She encouraged, pointing out where Lavender, Parvati and Padma were, who were all still staring at him.

"I know she is. But I don't want her." He said huskily, moving closer to her again and she sighed angrily.

"Do I have to spell it out for you? I-am-not-interested." She enunciated, glaring at him. He ignored her and started stroking her thigh with a few fingers.

"You don't have to lie. Everyone wants me. It just has to be once. You can stay with your boyfriend if you want, it'll be our little secret." He suggested, and she pushed his hand away again not believing this guy. At that second, a bludger flew towards Cormac who ducked just in time. Hermione looked at the direction it came from to see George wave at her with his bat in his hand. She let herself laugh slightly and used the chance to get away from Cormac as he looked dazed for a few seconds.

"Hey, where you going?" He asked, and grabbed hold of her hand._ Merlin, this guy is over confident and unbelievably dumb,_ she thought. It was pretty obvious that bludger had been aimed at him.

"Away from you!" She snapped, ripping her hand out of his grip and picked up her bag. She promptly stormed off and heard something that sounded like him kicking the bench.

"Hey Hermione! Guess who's just been made beater again!" George exclaimed, loud enough for Cormac to hear, flying towards her beaming and she smiled. He slowed to a stop and lowered himself to her level.

"It couldn't be my amazing boyfriend could it?" She replied in the same tone, grinning.

"Certainly is."

She figured she could let her rule on public displays of affection slip this once. It seemed like Cormac wasn't planning on giving up unless he saw how happy she was without him with his own two eyes. She leant forward and wrapped her arms around George's neck giving him a long kiss. She heard in the distance a few wolf whistles and distinctly Ginny shouting

"If you keep on sucking each other's faces like that you're not going to be hungry later!"

She then heard Harry laughing and they broke apart with silly grins on their faces.

"You reckon he's got the hint?" She asked, and George glanced over to see Cormac looking thoroughly annoyed as he flew down to the pitch.

"I hope so. I thought the near bludger to his head was enough, but he really is as dumb as he looks." He answered, grinning and she rolled her eyes. "You want to get out of here?"

"Okay."

He hopped off his broom and placed a hand in hers. He used his other hand to balance his broom on his shoulder and they started heading into the castle.

"You really shouldn't have tried hitting him with that bludger." She reprimanded, and he sighed, sensing the lecture he was about to get.

"I know, it's not setting a good-"

"His heads big enough as it is. We don't need it swelling up to an even bigger size." She joked, and he looked at her surprised.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were my girlfriend. It appears I'm mistaken." He joked back, and she playfully hit his shoulder. "I believe I had my rights. He was hitting on you and I felt it was my duty to put him in his place."

"Yes well. Try to refrain from doing it." She said, feeling the need to lecture him by a small amount.

"I'm curious though, what did he say? Are his lines as good as mine?" He asked, laughing at the thought of what they could be

"Somehow they were worse, which I didn't think was possible. I said to him I had a boyfriend and he said, 'It just has to be once, he doesn't have to know.' He's vile, thinking he can get away with saying things like that." She said disgustedly.

"Well if he tries anything again, I'll make sure the bludger doesn't miss his head." He said in a playful tone. Hermione looked at him and saw the laughter didn't reach his eyes. She looked at him suspiciously.

"Are you jealous?" She asked, and he looked at her sniggering.

"No. Like I'd be jealous of that arsehole." He said, with a bit too much venom in his tone for it to be taken as a joke.

"George, I can tell you are." She said, smiling and he sighed.

"Yeah I know. I was hoping you'd believe me for a little while longer." He answered, grinning and she shook her head in disbelief. Somehow he even managed to joke about his jealousy. She wondered if he'd ever be able to take anything seriously.

"You don't have to be jealous. He's honestly the most repulsive boy I've ever met. Aside from Malfoy." She said truthfully, forcing them both to stop walking. She put her other hand in his as well and stood in front of him.

"I know, it's just he thinks he could get you so easily. Big headed twat." He muttered, and she sighed at his language.

"But he's not going to." She said defiantly, and kissed him softly. "Now what do you say we try the Room of Requirement again?" She suggested promptly, putting all thoughts of Cormac McLaggen out of his head.

* * *

><p>Half an hour later, a frustrated George and Hermione made their way to the common room.<p>

"I don't get it, all of last year anytime we wanted to get in there we could. Why can't we now?" He said angrily, as they walked through the portrait hole.

"I don't know George. I've tried doing some research on it but there isn't much explanation on the way it works. All I've found out is that even if someone's using it, we should still be able to get into it. Whoever is in there is purposely blocking it." Hermione explained, and they sat down on a sofa close to the armchair Harry was sitting in.

"What's that?" Harry asked, with the Daily Prophet on his lap.

"The Room of Requirement won't let us in no matter what we think." Hermione said.

"Yeah, Hermione's been really _frustrated_ lately and needed a place to take her _anger_ out in _private._" George hinted, and Harry couldn't hold back his laughter. Hermione whipped her head around to glare at him and elbowed him in the ribs.

"Maybe it's what you're thinking." Harry said, doing his best to hold back his laughter and she continued to glare at Harry.

"It's not. I've thought of everything 'a place to hide', 'a place to study', nothing works." She explained, and Harry thought about what she said for a few minutes.

"You don't think it could have something to do with Malfoy, do you?" He asked, and Hermione groaned leaning back.

"Please Harry. Can we not talk about Malfoy for two minutes?" She asked, and he sighed angrily.

"I know he's up to something." He grumbled, and she pinched her temple.

"Listen, I'm going to hang out with Fred for awhile. This isn't exactly my area of expertise." George said, and Hermione looked at him.

"Okay, I'll see you later." She said, and pecked his lips before he strode out the portrait hole to find Fred.

"Harry, he's acting exactly the same as he is every year." She said, getting back to the Malfoy subject.

"He's a Deatheater. I know he is." He said to himself more than her. He placed the newspaper on his lap (that was left open on a page about Lucius Malfoy's arrest) on the table and leant forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"Harry, he's only seventeen. Dumbledore said that Voldemort only takes on his most faithful followers as Deatheaters. Why would he take on Malfoy who hasn't had the time to prove his loyalty?" She said, trying to poke some sense into him.

"It's not as if Lucius isn't loyal to him." He said, hinting that Lucius's loyalty would be enough to prove his son's as well.

"Yes but that's Lucius, not Draco." She proved, and Harry sighed pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Well…he's never around anymore. I only see him in lessons and he sometimes doesn't even show up for meals. He's not insulting us as much as he used to either." Harry said, and Hermione moved up to the edge of the sofa.

"Harry, all of that's not enough to prove he's a Deatheater. Maybe you should just forget about it." She suggested hopefully.

"I can't Hermione. I can feel it, he's up to something." He said darkly.

"Look Harry, I hate to say this but you're letting your own feelings about Malfoy take over your judgement. In second year, you were convinced he was opening the chamber of secrets when he actually had nothing to do with it." She confessed, and Harry leant back in the armchair with tense muscles.

"Fine." He snapped, signaling the end of the conversation. She twiddled her thumbs awkwardly and he picked up his bag. He rummaged through it till he found the Half Blood Prince's book and Hermione tutted seeing it.

"Harry, please. Why are you still reading that thing?" She snapped irritably, and he rolled his eyes flipping it open to a page.

"It's fine Hermione. I've been using it all the time for Potions and nothing's happened except I'm improving a lot more." He replied, using the answer he had a thousand times before.

"I'm telling you I don't trust it. Ginny doesn't like you using it either." She noted, and he blinked a few times, his eyes going off the page with his cheeks turning a very faint pink.

"And why would I care what Ginny thinks?" He said, and she gave him a disbelieving look.

"Harry, it's obvious to anyone with eyes how you feel about her." She stated, and his cheeks darkened in colour a little.

"It's not that obvious, is it?" He asked hesitantly, and she picked her Arithmacy essay out of her bag, not finishing it due to the Cormac incident.

"It is to me, but I think that's because I know you inside out. Don't worry, she doesn't know. Something tells me she wouldn't mind though." Hermione hinted with a twinkle in her eye, and Harry smiled.

"So she likes me that way?" He asked hopefully, and she resisted rolling her eyes at him. Did she have to spell out everything today? She looked at his face and smiled reassuringly, seeing how eager he appeared for her answer.

"I'm not saying anything. Let's just say her feelings haven't changed for you much since her first year." She said, thinking he could work out the rest for himself and dipped her quill in some ink.

Once she finished the essay, she saw Harry looking at something with an amused expression and she furrowed her eyebrows at him.

"Cormac's looking at you weirdly. One minute he looks like he wants to rip your head off and the next look makes me want to do the same to him." Harry said, with a grimace. She gave him a stern look.

"Harry, you shouldn't resort to physical violence." She scolded him.

"Except, when it's a bludger." He commented, and her cheeks went aflame.

"I couldn't prevent that." She defended, putting her essay away safely in her bag.

"Of course. Something tells me though you wouldn't have, even if you did know."

"It was his own fault, he shouldn't have been trying to get me to sleep with him, the pig." She snapped, and Harry sniggered.

"Proves how little he knows about you."

"Or how little he knows in general."

They both chuckled lightly and Hermione looked behind her at Cormac to see him lick his lips instantly making her look straight forward again as Harry roared with laughter at her expression.

* * *

><p><strong>A:N I thought it was about time I did the Harry/Hermione friendship some justice. Hopefully Harry was more in character than I've previously written him. Despite his moodiness/conflicted attitude there are times where he's able to relax and have a laugh so I tried to incorporate both of those sides of him here. **

**Thanks for all the feedback guys! Over 90 reviews now *victory dances*. Also thanks to Mads (I'm glad you're enjoying the music for the chapters as well as the story itself), harrylovesginny, Sarden, KING, RoNhEr4EvEr, Sandrinha.**

**Just wanted to respond to Mads second review here:**

**-Oh no you don't need to re-read GoF, I just meant with the Yule Ball scenario that even though it's typically tradition for the guy to ask the girl, I don't really see why Hermione couldn't have asked Ron before Viktor asked her. I always thought the Yule Ball was the first time Ron realised how he felt about Hermione so that would have been why he never thought to ask her sooner.**

**-WOO! Got asked about my opinion on something YAY! Anyway, I think stories that have the Yule Ball when the Tri-Wizard Tournament isn't going on are stupid. It's a cliché to have some sort of Ball Scenario as a way of a couple getting together. It's as if they're thinking of Hogwarts as some sort of medieval fairytale castle, when the bottom line is it's a school. It's ignorant to think that a school would hold 'Balls' every year for no reason at all. So don't expect any balls in this story :P**

**-You should get a fanfiction account though, it's so much easier to keep track of stories since you can get emails sent to you when a story's updated and it's not as if you're obligated to write. When I was younger I just had one as a way of keeping track on my favourite stories and didn't write anything.**

**Also, I'm not sure if their reading this but to whoever reviewed that didn't bother putting a name, har de har. I should write more? Seriously, I mean for fanfiction I think my updates have been frequent and like I've said I've already written 18 chapters, so no I don't need to write more. Obviously I am still writing though. **

**I don't know why you referred to my Important Author's Notes as a "Chapter" as well since I never said it was a chapter. And yes, it was like the start and end of jumbled up author's notes because that's what it was. **

**Maybe you should learn to read properly before complaining about how often I update. NO CHOCOLATE FOR YOU.**

**Thanks for reading everyone! **


	7. Chapter 7

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=DMQbzLrvwlE**

**Copy, paste and replace the closed brackets with fullstops. FYI; I knew about the song before 500 Days of Summer, how hip am I? :P**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 7

A Lonely Soul

"_See the life I've had_

_Can make a good man bad_

_So for once in my life_

_Let me get what I want_

_Lords knows it would be the first time."_

_Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want - The Smiths_

Hermione yawned as she made her way over to the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. She dozily sat down next to George and dropped her heavy bag to the floor. She started placing food on her plate, feeling George wrap an arm around her while kissing her temple. Unfortunately for her, he was now well aware of her fatigued state and he was hardly going to let such a good opportunity pass him by. Shivers crawled up her spine as a warm slimy sensation spread from the back of her ear to her jaw. She batted his head loosely and wiped away his saliva, scowling at him. Seeing him grin as a response, she continued with her breakfast, determined to ignore him.

She was vaguely aware that he placed a hand on her knee as she poured out a glass of pumpkin juice but thinking nothing of it, she began eating.

"Hermione, you kinky thing, I didn't know you were into that sort of thing." Fred exclaimed. She furrowed her eyebrows but suddenly became acutely aware of the hand that was dangerously high up her leg. Thin nails scratched at her inner thigh and she recoiled by harshly slapping it.

"George! What were you doing?" She snapped, immediately awake. He grinned mischievously rubbing at his now lightly pink skin.

"Just seeing how tired you really are. It turns out a lot." He said, and she had to refrain from wiping the smile off his face.

"Why are you so tired? You weren't-" Fred began.

"-studying most the night again, were you?" George finished, and Hermione gave him a warning look.

"No. Professor McGonagall wanted me to help her with a new patrolling system and I wanted to get it done in one night." She explained, causing George to sigh.

"Typical Hermione, lying for professors." George said.

"I'm not lying." She said through gritted teeth, as her knuckles turned white around the spoon in her hand.

"You weren't helping, you did all of it." George stated, and Hermione chose to stay quiet, continuing to eat.

"That's the Hermione way." Fred said, and she glared at him. She yawned again and covered her mouth politely with her hand. George gently forced her head onto his shoulder as Harry sat opposite them. He chuckled lightly as George patted Hermione's head while she grimaced at him.

"I've told you Hermione, you don't need to study as much as you have been." Harry said, and Hermione lifted her head off George's shoulder, trying to appear more awake. She poured herself another glass of pumpkin juice and swallowed it down in one gulp. Mildly aggravated that it did nothing to help her sleepiness, she ran a hand through her bushy hair, as she unconsciously glanced over at the Slytherin table. She looked down it until her eyes landed on Ron.

The usual ache in her chest increased seeing him so alone. He was propping his head up, staring down at the table lifelessly. He took tiny bites out of his toast and the occasional sip of pumpkin juice but wasn't necessarily paying attention to it. He looked completely lost in his own thoughts and, judging by his expression, they weren't pleasant. His eyes that held so much emotion were radiating his sadness and suffering. His body was hunched over like he was trying to be as small as he could be but with his height, it was still easy to see him. She suddenly felt overwhelmed to wrap her arms around him telling him everything was going to be okay.

She bit her bottom lip and looked away, physically not able to look at him any longer and glanced at George, who was eating his breakfast without a care in the world. She hesitantly looked at Ron again and sighed sympathetically.

"George." She said quietly, and he looked at her, not noticing her troubled tone. She swallowed before continuing, "Has Ron always been lonely here?"

George looked mildly surprised at her question and peered over at Ron, instantly understanding why she asked him the question. He sighed and continued eating while saying, "Pretty much."

"Doesn't it bother you?" She asked, pushing her plate away and Harry looked between the two of them interestedly.

"Sometimes. I've gotten used to it now." He said, and she gave him a disapproving look which was something he noticed. "There's not much I can do about it."

"Ronnie thinks whenever we hang around with him we're taking pity on him." Fred explained, over hearing the conversation. _It certainly sounds like something Ron would think_, Hermione thought.

"And Ron being well -" George continued.

"-the stubborn git he is-" Fred included.

"-won't have it. We gave up after his third year-"

"-he'd only yell at us and end up getting even more moody."

"I'm quite surprised he doesn't get moody with you more Hermione. You see him more than any of us." Ginny joined in, now sat next to Harry. She gave Harry a brief shy smile which he returned.

"That's a point." Fred said, with a grin slowly forming. Once again, Hermione's knuckles turned white around her spoon.

"Don't get any ideas Fred. I only see him because we patrol together and I tutor him." She said strictly, and he feigned an innocent look.

"I wasn't going to say anything." He answered, holding his hands up in mock surrender.

Still seeing the familiar gleam of mischief in his eyes, she shook her head in disbelief and got back to the subject.

"He seems fine at the Burrow." She pointed out.

"That's because he's home. He can't accuse us of taking pity on him when we live in the same house." George said, making Hermione's eyebrows furrow.

"You have to understand Hermione; Ron is like two different people. At home he's himself, our brother, but here he's… just another student." Ginny tried to explain, and Hermione frowned.

"But he seems all right when I talk to him. He's Ron." Hermione answered, hoping she made sense. The Weasley children looked at each other with slightly perplexed expressions before Ginny spoke up again.

"I think that's because you're his first real friend that's not part of his family." Ginny concluded.

Hermione's mind reeled over what she just learnt. She was well aware that Ron didn't have many friends but she had thought he could have had some before Hogwarts. She swallowed, feeling much more awake and looked over at Ron again, unaware his eyes were already on her. They smiled at each other as the tips of his ears went red. Her smile grew even more seeing him embarrassed, until she heard a shockingly high pitched squeal that belonged to Lavender Brown.

"Parvati, he's smiling! I've never seen him smile! He looks so handsome!"

Hermione gave her a scolding look, the girl simply had no idea how loud she could be. What kind of an example was she setting? She was acting irresponsibly in front of the other students and Ron had probably heard her squealing. To check, Hermione looked over at him and saw him holding a mildly surprised expression then looked at her. He gave Lavender a look like she was insane while sniggering and Hermione couldn't help letting out a quiet laugh.

"Merlin, now he's laughing! Parvati, would you look at him?"

Now Lavender had successfully gained the attention of all the Weasleys who sat at the Gryffindor table, Harry, Seamus, Neville and Dean. They all simultaneously looked behind to see which Slytherin Lavender was cooing over and everyone's eyebrows raised in unison. Hermione laughed some more as Ron attempted to shrink in height from all the attention he was gaining.

"Oh the things I could do to him."

Hermione instantly stopped laughing. At first, it sounded as if Lavender could be talking about a baby; the way she had been cooing over him but now, that clearly wasn't possible. She glared at Lavender and was about to snap at her but Ginny beat her to it,

"Lavender, do you mind? That's our brother you're talking about. Keep your fantasies to yourself please." Ginny gave her a look similar to Hermione's and Lavender's smile dropped off her face. She shot Ginny a cold look before flicking her hair over her shoulder and turning away from them to gossip to Parvati.

Hermione smiled appreciatively at Ginny, despite the fact she wasn't paying any attention to her. She looked over at Ron again expecting to see him give her another 'Lavender's insane' look but saw his expression was far from it. He actually looked rather proud of himself and Hermione wasn't sure why that made her temper rise. Some random girl wouldn't mind sleeping with him? That's what made him smug? _Seriously, are sex and Quidditch the only thing men care about?_ She thought to herself.

She gritted her teeth and glanced at her watch with her eyes widening seeing the time. She hastily pulled her bag on her shoulder with her anger immediately being replaced by worry.

"Harry, we better get to Defence Against the Dark Arts. You know Snape will deduct an unreasonable amount of points if we're late." She said, ignoring the fact he rolled his eyes at her. She stood up and pecked George's cheek in a goodbye, making him frown as Harry slowly got up.

"Is that all a man's getting?" He whined, and she raised an eyebrow at him, daring him to go further with the statement. "I'm surprised you can resist me at times."

"It's a good thing I do. Otherwise I would have hexed you long ago." She snapped jokily, lightly pushing his shoulder before walking to Defence Against the Dark Arts with Harry.

* * *

><p>"I think it's got to the point now, I'm not surprised you're always late. Is it the same flying excuse?" Hermione questioned, when Ron ran up to her red in the face. He stopped in front of their usual tutoring table and leant down placing his hands on it, trying to catch his breath.<p>

"I ran into Lavender." He managed to gasp out, and she furrowed her eyebrows at him.

"What?" She snapped, before she could stop herself. Thankfully, he didn't notice her tone.

"Was on time…ran into Lavender." He repeated, taking deep breaths standing up right, only to collapse into the chair opposite her. He ran a hand through his slightly greasy hair due to the sweat he got from his running. She bit her lip to stop from snapping again and tried to act nonchalant.

"What did she do?" She asked, taking out her Herbology book, glancing at him nervously to see him grin.

"I think she may have may have hit on me." He answered smugly, and she slammed the book down. She made it appear accidental and feigned her anger for confusion so he explained, "She said hello, I said hello back but said I had to get to a tutoring session. So she said maybe we could have a _tutoring_ session of our own sometime."

"R-really?" She stuttered out of shock. She knew Lavender wasn't the most innocent girl in the world but she didn't think she was so upfront.

"Yep." He said complacently, and she frowned at him.

"Why are you so smug? I thought you said she wasn't your type." She said harshly, and he looked at her noticing it. He shrugged his shoulders before answering.

"She's not. But still, it is nice knowing someone wants you though."

"Especially if they'll sleep with anyone." She mumbled under her breath, which he didn't hear.

"Don't pretend you wouldn't like knowing that." He said, with a somewhat egotistical smile on his face.

"Actually, I wouldn't." She replied, flicking to the right page in the book to avoid looking at him.

"You're just saying that because you're with George." He retorted, and she sighed frustratingly.

"No, it's not because of that. I know someone who liked me that way and it was not pleasant." She snapped, and the smile wiped off his face in a flash with his eyebrows rising.

"Really? Who?" He asked, and she glanced at him. She could tell he was trying to act as casual as possible but secretly knew there was a little anger behind it.

"I'm not telling you that." She said, looking down at the book again.

"Why? Is it because George doesn't know?" He questioned, thinking that would be the only reason why she wouldn't tell him.  
>"No, he knows." She replied curtly, and got out her parchment and quill.<p>

"Then what's the problem?" He asked, as she started making notes for him.

"The problem is I know you, and you will want to punch him." She retorted, making Ron's ears turn red. He awkwardly scratched behind his ear before smiling lopsidedly.

"At least we know it's a him." He joked, and she shook her head in disbelief.

"That's very mature." She reprimanded, and he sniggered leaning forward to rest his arms on the table.

"I won't care. Honest." He said quietly, and she groaned knowing he wasn't giving up on it.

"Fine, Cormac McLaggen. He's a seventh year Gryffindor" She said, with her handwriting becoming more rough than usual.

"I know who he is." He snapped back, "What did he do?"

"He was a bit too forceful." She wasn't entirely sure how to explain it without making it sound worse than it was and so far she wasn't being too successful. She looked up at Ron to see his jaw tensed and his fists clenched.

"Forceful?" He said, in a tone quickly getting to furious and she bit her bottom lip. She placed the quill on the table and rubbed her temples, knowing she had to put all her focus on her explanation for him.

"It's hard to explain. He wouldn't take no for an answer. He kept on touching me inappropriately while saying, 'it only has to happen once, it'll be our little secret, you can stay with your boyfriend.' It wasn't a pleasant experience knowing he wanted me that way." She clarified, to hear the gritting of Ron's teeth.

"Sounds like a sick perverted creep." He growled, for some reason sounding angry at himself rather than Cormac. She hesitated a look at Ron and saw him glaring at a spot on the table.

"He wasn't that bad. I don't think many girls have said no to him and actually meant it." She explained, which did nothing to ease Ron's anger. If possible it made him even more so.

"Don't make excuses. What made him stop anyway?" Ron snarled, sounding like he didn't want to know the answer, in a way.

"George tried hitting him with a bludger." She admitted, and Ron instantly burst out laughing. She sighed in relief but quickly glanced at Madam Pince to see her glaring at Ron. Hermione was about to tell Ron to be quieter since they were in a library when he let his laughter die down.

"I would have loved to have seen his face." He said, and she gave him a small smile remembering it. She thought she had better answer his question so they could start their tutoring session.

"Yes. Although, apart from that incident, I think I can understand why you'd think it's nice to know someone feels that way about you. I remember when I started getting to know George. Ginny told me she thought he liked me that way and it was a nice feeling." She sympathised with him, and saw him give her his trademark grin.

"I bet." Ron said sarcastically, and she rolled her eyes. "How did you two even become a couple? I know you went to the Yule Ball together but George never said anything about having a girlfriend after."

"Yes, we became closer after the Yule Ball. It was more official the summer afterwards, the day we were going back to Hogwarts. I got on the train and was trying to find the compartment Harry was in. I ran into George on my way and out of nowhere, he kissed me." She smiled fondly at the memory, having not thought about it in a while and Ron chuckled.

"Sounds like George. When he knows what he wants, he goes for it." Ron said, and she felt her smile drop reluctantly.

"Yeah, that can get slightly annoying at times though." She said in a serious tone, making Ron give her a befuddled expression.

"How?" He questioned, noticing how tense she'd suddenly become.

"It's probably why he's constantly in detention. What he wants isn't necessarily what's best for him." She revealed the half truth, not wanting to give away all her feelings on the subject.

"True." He murmured, staring intently into her eyes. She looked back into his, wondering what was going through his mind. She was curious why he seemed so interested in her relationship with his brother but maybe he was just trying to look out for him. She didn't notice she had stopped writing and that they were both sat, staring into each other's eyes.

She felt obligated to look away, however at the same time she didn't want to. She stared into his cerulean blue eyes and noticed they darkened in colour so they were more of a cobalt shade. She swallowed feeling her heart beat pick up, and unintentionally licked her lips. His eyes immediately darted down to her lips as her tongue retracted into her mouth and she left them parted, needing to breathe deeper. She saw his Adam's apple bob up and down, showing he swallowed and a jolt shot through her, straight to her core. She crossed her legs squirming a little and took her bottom lip in her mouth beginning to chew on it anxiously. He seemed transfixed, staring at the way she was nibbling her lip without so much as one blink. Seeing his pupils dilate, another jolt of heated electricity ran through her and she became very aware of a pulsating taking place beneath her stomach. She stopped chewing her lip and his eyes flashed back up to hers.

She wasn't sure how long they sat there staring at one another but when she had to ask herself that question, she instantly looked away. She tilted her head down so her hair could hide her slightly flushed cheeks and she fidgeted in her chair.

"We should get on with Herbology." She said, refusing to look at him and her words seemed to break his trance. She swallowed, noticing her dry throat and hesitated a flash of a glance at him. His ears turned bright red as his cheeks flamed and he awkwardly fidgeted in his chair.

"Uur yeah. Sure." He croaked, and they stayed on the topic of Herbology for the remainder of their tutoring session. They didn't spend too long studying, according to Hermione anyway, only two hours. The moment she said she thought they'd spent long enough studying he had packed away in a second and ran away at the speed of light. She wasn't much better considering she didn't even bother organizing her notes before shoving them into her bag and rushing to the Gryffindor Common Room.

She slowed down after a few minutes working out her rushing actually wasn't helping in the slightest. She raised her hand to her chest, feeling her heart pounding with a similar kind of pounding below her stomach. If Hermione Granger was being honest she would have admitted she was turned on and had been for the past few hours, in the presence of her boyfriend's brother. She would have also admitted she had never been quite so turned on before from a simple look. But considering she was lying to herself, she put down her state to her running when she walked through the portrait hole.

She looked around the common room and found the red haired twin she was looking for. She walked over to him to have Fred nod at her in a greeting, making George turn his head back grinning. Before he could say hello, she had taken his hand in hers and dragged him up so he was standing. She promptly stalked out of the common room pulling him along behind her. He looked back at Fred waggling his eyebrows suggestively making Fred smirk.

"Someone wants it bad!" He yelled after them, which Hermione mentally remembered to scold him for later. She rushed up the stairs to the Astronomy Tower. It was slightly unimaginative as it was a well known make-out spot in the castle but it was one of the few subjects that _Hogwarts A History _didn't cover. Therefore, Hermione was clueless as to where else they could go, giving their recent bad luck with the Room of Requirement.

"Hermione, what's gotten into you? I've never seen you like this." George exclaimed, out of breath as they slowed to a stop in the room, "Not that I'm complaining, it's kind of hot."

"Shut up." She snapped, causing his eyebrows to raise before she tilted her head up. Her lips brushed against his, in what she hoped to be a fairly seductive way. She guessed by his fingertips digging into her back and hearing him moan deeply, it worked. It was odd but as she kissed George, her heart race was decreasing rather than increasing like she had expected.

Determined not be put off by this, they moved slowly until she felt her back come into contact with the wall and his hands glided to her front. She hardly noticed his hand on her bare stomach pulling her shirt apart so it lay on her shoulders since she was too busy wondering why she wasn't feeling anything from the kiss. It wasn't causing her body to heat up like she'd expected. She felt quite the opposite and all she wanted to do was stop what was happening.

Luckily, he pulled away breathing heavily and looked down at her chest. She blushed self consciously and was about to button her shirt up again, not wanting him to see the hideous scar that lay there. Either he didn't notice it, which she doubted, or it was too dark for him to see it since he firmly brought his lips back to hers.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" The familiar drawl of Draco Malfoy echoed across the room snapping Hermione's head back causing it to hit the wall. She let out a wince and her hand went up to the source of pain. George pulled away from Hermione slightly, letting Draco and Lavender know exactly who they caught snogging wildly.

Lavender let out a noise of astonishment while Draco sniggered, not believing his luck. Hermione mentally scolded herself for not remembering it was their turn to patrol.

"Oh, this is too perfect." Draco said to himself more than them.

"You'd shut up Malfoy if you knew what was best for you." George snapped, not embarrassed in the slightest. Draco ignored him and his eyes drifted to Hermione, who was still nurturing her sore head and blushing awkwardly.

"I always wondered what you saw in this filth but now it seems pretty obvious." Draco drawled, glancing down at her open shirt. She immediately pulled it together, not bothering with the buttons and crossed her arms glaring at him. "If I knew she gave it up so easily, I might have looked past the fact she's a mudblood, for one night."

Hermione's eyes widened and she was slightly flabbergasted by his comment. She attempted to retort but couldn't think of anything, leaving her spluttering in outrage. She looked at George to see he was positively fuming at Draco and Hermione grabbed his arm, holding him back.

"Don't, he's not worth it." She snapped, forcing George to look at her hoping he wouldn't do anything she'd regret. She saw him visibly calm down and Draco smirked upon the scene as Lavender stood, knowing what she'd be telling Parvati when she got back to the common room.

"You should listen to that slut of a girlfriend of yours Weasley." He snapped, promptly angering George again.

"You're one too talk Malfoy, considering the girl you're with has probably gone through half the male population in this school." Hermione snapped bitterly, giving Draco the coldest look she could gather, given the circumstances. He raised an eyebrow at her in a questioning way and his eyes looked her up and down, in a way that made her insides squirm nauseatingly.

"Why don't you go fuck off Malfoy with your scumbag of a father." George retorted, seeing the way Draco was leering at Hermione. His insult instantly caused the smirk to drop off Draco's face and his gaze changed to a glare at George.

"Come on George, let's just go." She said, not wanting George to get in any more trouble, knowing the comment about Draco's father would undoubtedly end up having Professor Snape on his case. She pulled on his arm but he stood still, glaring daggers at Draco. "George, please!"

But it was too late. Draco smirked again about to say another crude comment about Hermione and George's fist collided with his cheek. George stormed off, leaving a shocked Lavender and a nervous Hermione with a whining Draco on the floor. Hermione sighed and hurried after George using the chance to button up her shirt. She found him back in the common room still furious with a concerned Harry and Ginny looking at him nervously. She bit her lip and walked over towards them taking a seat next to Harry.

"What happened?" Harry asked her, changing his gaze to her, seeing her nervous expression.

"Malfoy." She said, hoping that would be enough of an answer and Harry nodded.

"Fucking slime ball saying that about you." George mumbled, and she sighed reaching over to hold his hand.

"Yes, but you really shouldn't have hit him for it." She reprimanded him, and he rolled his eyes as Harry looked concerned at her. George leant back snatching his hand out of hers and she attempted to not show the pang of hurt it caused her.

"What did he say?" Harry asked, knowing it took a lot for George to get furious with Malfoy. George usually said a harsh joke at Malfoy's expense if he said something, he'd never gone as far as actually hitting him. Hermione was about to reply but George interrupted,

"Basically that Hermione was a filthy slut that he wouldn't mind having a go on." George growled, and Harry's jaw tensed.

"He didn't." Ginny said surprised and outraged. She looked at Hermione to check and saw her embarrassed expression. That was all she needed to know it was the truth. Ginny also noticed the pleading look she was giving George while he stared at the fire scornfully. "Harry, could you help with that essay I was talking to you about?"

Harry looked at Ginny slightly confused but saw the look she was giving him. He glanced between George and Hermione and nodded slowly. Harry and Ginny made their way over to the opposite side of the room leaving George and Hermione alone. Hermione sighed and moved to sit next to him. She hesitantly took one of his hands in hers and stroked the back of his palm, staring absentmindedly at it.

This was the side of George she truly hated. She knew the happy, joking side of him so well. This angry side of George was a rarity and she really had no idea how to act around him. She hated not knowing what to do. Not knowing whether he would take his anger out on her without meaning it, or whether she could calm him down and if so, how could she do it?

She looked into his eyes to see him still staring hatefully at the fire and used the hand not in his to rest on his neck. She leant over and kissed his cheek tenderly letting her eyes close. She remained like that for longer than necessary before pulling away feeling his fingers entwine with hers. She opened her eyes to see him staring at her with most of the anger gone from his eyes and she smiled.

"Is it forgotten?" She asked, and he reached over to tuck some of her hair behind her ear and he nodded.

"Except the stuff that happened before that. There's no way I'm forgetting that." He joked, and she playfully slapped his arm. "Looks like you'll have a hard time to."

She furrowed her eyebrows and saw him staring at a place on her neck. Her hand tore out of his to the spot he was staring and gave him a frustrated look.

"George, I've told you a million times I don't like you giving me love bites. You know I don't have anything to cover it up with. They look tacky and inappropriate." She snapped, and he wound an arm around her shoulders ignoring her tone.

"I'm curious though, what made you get like that? I don't think I've ever seen you like that before. To be honest, I wouldn't mind seeing that side of you more often." He admitted, with her head on his shoulder. She tensed slightly remembering what the cause of it was. That all that happened was her and Ron were staring intently at eachother. She couldn't recall a time before where she ever felt so electrified just from the way a person was looking at her. Her body tingled remembering how intense his gaze was and how alive it made her feel. No-one had looked at her so fiercely before. She closed her eyes with George's hand stroking her hair. She licked her lips involuntarily as a jolt of desire spread through her, remembering _his _eyes darkening in colour. She ran a hand over George's chest letting out a sound of contentment before replying.

"Just couldn't stop thinking about how long it's been since we've done anything like that."

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><p><strong>A:N Tut tut Hermione's lying to George. I thought it was about time we see the old Weasley temper again from him. I know this chapter was a bit shorter than the others but the next chapter definitely makes up for it!**

**I pushed up the rating to an 'M' now, I know it was very light 'M' earlier on in the chapter, but I think it's moved into that category now.**

**Thanks for the reviews guys! Over the 100 review mark now AHHH!**

**Also thanks to Sarden.**

**Just wanted to address KING'S review:**

**- I'm sorry but I'm a little confused at your complaint about the last chapter being too short since it was a similar length to the other chapters. Also I didn't get why you thought there wasn't much of Ron in it since over half of it was around their prefect patrol… Thanks anyway for your review!**

**Also wanted to address Sardrinha's review:**

**-I'm not sure whether this is just our differing opinions but I didn't really consititute what Cormac did as sexual harassment, it was like how Hermione explained, I personally view him as a guy whose ego is too big for his head and she was probably one of the few girls that said no that actually meant it. That being said, I've always viewed Hermione as the kind of person that gives people the benefit of the doubt first, so if Cormac ever does anything like that again, she wouldn't hesitate in reporting him.**

**-I'm glad Harry was more in character in last chapter though and thanks for your review!**

**As a small sidenote, I also got into Pottermore! Last night to be exact, so if anyone wants to add me on it feel free, my username's AsphodelUnicorn102.**

**I'm a Slytherin! I was really surprised with the result but as I learnt more about the house, the more it made sense really. And the fact it's hinted I'm destined for greatness…well, how can anyone hate that? :P**

**I've been meaning to put this at the end of every chapter, but here's my tumblr in case anyone has any die hard questions that need answering instantly, or you just want to fill my askbox with endless compliments, joking!: glowinglunatic[]tumblr[]com.**

**Do the same as the song link, copy, past and take out the brackets and replace with fullstops.**

**Thanks so much for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A:N/ Link to song for this cha****pter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=zGcPJooXT1o**

**Copy, paste and ****replace the closed brackets with fullstops.**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 8

So Much Worry

"_Painted in flames_

_All peeling thunder_

_Be the lightning in me_

_That strikes relentless."_

_The Lightning Strike - Snow Patrol  
><em>

Hermione didn't even bother reprimanding Ron when he showed up late to their patrol. She simply raised an eyebrow up at him with her arms crossed beneath her chest, seeing him run up to her. He had the usual small amount of sweat covering his skin and was out of breath, but in addition he also had smudges of mud over his face. She furrowed her eyebrows at him and glanced down to see his hand covered in mud as well.

"Flying. Didn't have time to wash, fell down on my way here." He explained breathlessly, and she sighed.

"You can't go around like that. We can make a quick stop at the prefect's bathroom on the way." She said, and they made their way up the flights of stairs to the bathroom. Hermione bit her bottom lip nervously feeling the awkward tension between them and was reminded of their last encounter and how her body had reacted to his gaze.

"Are you okay? You seem a little off." Ron said, glancing at her slightly baffled. Seeing how he was acting perfectly normal around her, it became apparent to her that he thought nothing about what had happened between them, so who was she to act differently?

"It's nothing, I think I could have done better on a Transfiguration essay. That's all." She replied, tucking some of her hair behind her ear looking straight ahead. He smiled lopsidedly and they walked in the prefect's bathroom. He ignored the huge bath with the assorted taps and headed to the sinks. He chuckled slightly seeing his appearance and cleaned his hands as Hermione waited patiently for him by the entrance. She unconsciously caught sight of herself in one of the many mirrors and grimaced.

Hermione never had cared greatly about her appearance, but the one thing that truly irritated her was her hair. Not only was it so bushy she thought it made her look unattractive, it also got in her way a lot whenever she was studying.

She attempted to flatten it out with her hands to have it spring back into the position it was in before. She frowned but gave up knowing it wouldn't help. She heard Ron snigger and glanced over at him to see him looking at her reflection.

"What are you doing?" He asked, while washing his face.

"Nothing. I was attempting to flatten out my hair which never works." She answered, and he turned around all clean. He shook his hands getting the excess water off them before drying them on his trousers, ignoring the towel laid out close by.

"Why?" He questioned, walking towards her and she looked at him oddly.

"Isn't it obvious?" She asked, picking up a few strands of her hair looking disgustedly at it. He shrugged his shoulders and she noticed a bit of dirt still on his neck. "You've still got some dirt on your neck, I'll get it."

She walked over to the sink and wetted a flannel with warm water. She twisted it until she had squeezed out all the excess water and headed back to where he stood. She went on her tip toes to reach the side of his neck and she carefully dabbed away the dirt.

"It's not that obvious. Your hair's p-fine." Ron stuttered, with his ears going red and Hermione was oblivious to his slip up.

"I don't really care how it makes me look. It gets annoying when I'm studying or trying to sleep." She explained, rubbing his skin softly with the flannel, unaware that it was now clean.

"Oh right. But still, it's nice." He commented, making Hermione stop what she was doing. She let her heels drop to the floor and her arm fell to her side. She felt herself blush and was wondering if he'd look down at her. She guessed he was too embarrassed and licked her dry lips.

"Thank you." She said quietly, and hurriedly placed the flannel in the washing basket. She picked up the towel and walked back over to him to see he had turned around with flaming cheeks. She walked up to him with a small smile and handed him the towel.

"Doesn't George say stuff like that to you?" Ron asked, trying to break the tension while drying his neck. Hermione shuffled her feet and crossed her arms, looking to her side at nothing in particular.

"Not really, he tends to joke about it really." She answered, and Ron started drying his face. When he finished he walked over to the washing bin, not sure how to reply, and placed the towel inside it.

Once Ron and Hermione had finished patrolling the three bottom floors, she was on the seventh floor making her way to the common room when Blaise Zabini crossed her path. He was leant against the wall doing nothing until she saw him. He glanced at her and she glared at him, stopping her walking a foot away from him.

"What are you doing out Zabini?" She snapped, getting straight to the point and he sighed.

"Nothing, just hanging around." He answered, leering at her.

"Five points from Slytherin. Now, get back to the dungeons." She snapped, and brushed past him.

"Hey, where's that blood traitor Weasley? Isn't he meant to patrol with you?" He shouted after her, and she stopped walking. She turned around and placed her hands on her hips in a threatening manner.

"Not that it's any of your business, but we're done for the night. That doesn't mean my responsibilities as a prefect have no less effect though so you better get back to the dungeons." She snapped, as he calmly strolled towards her.

"That wasn't a very smart thing for him to do, was it? Leaving a poor defenseless mudblood walking through the corridors in this big castle all alone." He said, and she ignored the pain his insult caused.

"Detention; for using language which is not permitted in this school under any circumstances, and for still not returning to your dormitory. I warn you Zabini, I'm not as defenseless as you may think." She growled, not liking the possible threat he had been implying.

"Poor little filthy Granger. Although from what Draco tells me, apparently you're filthier in other ways too." He grinned maliciously seeing her eyes widen and her composure dropped for a second. She quickly regained it and took a step towards him, showing she wasn't afraid of him.

"Zabini, what I do in my private life is none of your concern. If you don't leave in the next ten seconds I will personally inform Professor McGonogall about your attitude and she won't like it one bit." She snapped, and he rolled his eyes before making his way back to the dungeons.

He felt satisfied showing Hermione her place. He hadn't done so in awhile and he leisurely strolled to the dormitories feeling rather smug. When he entered he saw Draco in there just getting out of the shower and the curtains were drawn around Ron's bed. No change there then.

"Hey Blaise, where have you been?" Draco asked, roughly drying his hair while Blaise walked over to his bed and sat on it.

"Just out messing with the mudblood's head. Putting the information you told me to good use." Blaise informed, removing his shoes and socks. Draco smirked as Ron's ears pricked up and he listened in on the conversation.

"Sounds good. How did it respond?" Draco questioned, and Ron's fists clenched hearing Draco not even refer to Hermione as a person.

He usually ignored the conversations the other Slytherins had, learning early on it never lead to any good. He could never keep his temper down and it had served in him getting beaten up a fair few times. With Draco, Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle all taking part, it was difficult to put up a decent fight so more often than not he ended up coming out of it the worse for the wear.

"The typical up her own arse kind of response. It was kind of funny, she genuinely seemed surprised that you've spread about what you caught her doing with that blood traitor." Blaise said, taking off his shirt and throwing it on a chair with his back to Draco as he got changed.

"Pathetically naïve sometimes that one." Draco commented, getting the last of his clothes on and got into bed.

Ron nervously lay in bed knowing he was the reason why Hermione had to put up with Blaise's torment by herself. Ron smacked himself on his head thinking how much of a dickhead he was. He had left her all alone in the castle which, despite being one of the safest places in the wizarding world, had still let in Deatheaters and alleged killers in its time. He was lucky that she hadn't been hurt physically by Blaise, Ron wouldn't have put it past him.

Over the years of living with Draco and Blaise, Ron had quickly learnt that even though Draco was more upfront about his hatred of Muggleborns, Blaise hated them even more. It didn't seem possible, but Blaise would refuse to even insult them because of their status. Which lead Ron to wonder, why was there this sudden change in Blaise then? He put it down to whatever Draco had told Blaise about Hermione, which seemed to have something to do with George as well. Ron was slightly nervous about what Blaise might do to Hermione. Although, what plagued his mind more was what she had been doing with George.

She clearly hadn't felt what he had the other night with her in the library if she ran off back to George. Ron had never gotten aroused just by the way a girl was looking at him before. He sighed angrily to himself knowing how messed up it was, this was his brother's girlfriends he was fantasizing about. Then again he had fantasized about Fleur before, even a few times after he found out she was with Bill. So that didn't really mean much.

He reached for his wand on his bed casting the usual charms he did when he wanted to go to sleep. Draco tended to brag about anything and everything before going to sleep to anyone who would listen, and Ron really didn't need hear anymore of that then he needed.

He closed his eyes intending to fall to sleep when he got a flashback of Hermione in the library and the way she was looking at him. Her usual amber brown eyes darkened to a russet colour in a way he'd never seen before. Then she had to lick her lips. He pressed his own together remembering the way it had moistened her lips and made them slightly shiny, making them look utterly kissable. Her cheeks had been tinged a light pink colour and combined with her hair all wild and over the place, it looked as if she had been thoroughly snogged or shagged. Needless to say, his mind lead off to many different fantasies about what he could have done to her.

He cursed his body for reacting so quickly to his thoughts and gave up on trying to prevent his thoughts from thinking about her. He let his mind drift back to the memory of her at the Burrow after seeing her get out of the shower where a far different scenario came out of it.

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><p>The next day, Hermione wanted to do some research about the 'Half Blood Prince'. With all her work done and Harry, George, Ginny and Fred out Quidditch training all day, she felt obligated to use the time to her advantage. She knew it was a long shot and there was a very small possibility of there being any Prince ever existing, however there was still a possibility.<p>

She poured over books, first over ones that were related to Hogwarts in any kind of way and then onto mythical wizarding princes, which there was virtually nothing on. She moved onto the history of Voldemort and his followers, and still found nothing. She decided she had no option but to investigate the history of potions. She had just been reading through her fifth book about potions when she was disturbed by a pair of sweaty arms wrapping around her from behind and a wet kiss on her cheek to go with it.

"Ugh, get off me Fred!" She snapped, and Fred instantly pulled away surprised.

"Now this is just weird. You weren't even looking then, how'd you know it was me and not George?" He asked interested, and she rolled her eyes closing the book.

"Trust me. I've kissed him enough times to know what his lips feel like. Also he never would have considered doing that in a library, knowing I wouldn't think twice about giving him a detention for it." She explained, standing up with the huge pile of books in her arms. Fred shook his head in disbelief, not feeling the need to help her while she returned them to their rightful places.

"Anyway, what are you doing still in your Quidditch gear? Didn't that finish over an hour ago?" Hermione asked.

"Oh yeah, Quidditch did but as we finished, Ronnie was going for a fly so me, George and Ginny stayed for awhile." Fred explained, instantly making Hermione stop what she was doing. She raised her eyebrows and turned around.

"Really?" She said unable to hide her astonishment.

"Well yeah, we remembered what you said the other day and figured why not?" He said, and Hermione was about to ask him more about it when he changed the subject. "This is beside the point, you still haven't told me a real why you knew it was me and not George."

She rolled her eyes, knowing she had already given him a valid reason, and felt a light peck on her temple.

"See, I know that's George because he knows how much I despise public displays of affection." She said, placing the last book in its place and smiled at George as Fred continued looking slightly confused but with a cheeky grin still on his face.

"It's actually because I'm the better kissing twin isn't it?" George stated, and they walked over to the table she was at and she packed away her things.

"I can't deny you of that." She answered, throwing her bag over her shoulder and George beamed at Fred. She ignored the part of her brain that brought up how she'd felt nothing but discomfort kissing George the other night.

"Ha! Who's the charming twin now?" He challenged Fred, and they walked out the library. Hermione was in between them both as they walked and laughed slightly at how ridiculous they were being.

"I say, Hermione cannot give an honest judgement unless she has kissed me properly. Tongues and all." Fred declared, making Hermione grimace which he noticed. "You can't pull that face. We look exactly the same."

"Yes, but I know it won't be George. It would still be cheating and disgusting." She said, and George hummed smugly to himself, much to Fred's chagrin.

"But we won't know who the better kisser is. We may never get this opportunity ever again! It's a once in a lifetime chance. You wouldn't want to take that away from me now, would you?" Fred asked, and Hermione shot him a questionable look.

"Knowing you Fred, _if _I did kiss you and said which one of you were the better kisser, you would then want to find out who is better in bed too." Hermione said matter of factly, and Fred's eyes gleamed.

"I don't think he'd thought of that." George said sniggering, and Hermione glanced at Fred to see him grinning at her. Her jaw dropped and she slapped his arm.

"A kiss was completely out of the question, now _that_ is beyond ridiculous. It's completely outrageous, I would never ever even consider doing such a thing." She snapped, causing Fred to laugh and let his arm fall on her shoulders.

"I was only messing with you, Granger. I'm not that deluded." He whispered in her ear, and George picked up his arm replacing it with his. "But before, you said _if_ to the kiss so I'll take that to mean you're considering it."

"No, I was not considering. I was speaking hypothetically." She retorted, when they stopped in front of the Fat Lady portrait. George said the password while Fred and Hermione continued their bickering.

"I would maybe allow a peck on the lips but that's all." She said, as all three of them sat on a sofa opposite Harry and Ginny who were playing a game of Exploding Snap.

"What are you guys talking about?" Ginny asked, her eyes never leaving her cards. Hermione sighed and pinched her temple before answering.

"Fred wants me to kiss him so I can decide which twin is the better kisser. His words not mine."

Harry snorted hearing this and raised an eyebrow up at Fred wondering why he was even bothering.

"I don't see why you think it's such a big deal Granger. George is fine with it, right George?" Fred said, and George grinned.

"Perfectly fine." He answered, and Hermione shot him a glare.

"You actually want to know what I would think as well, don't you?" She snapped, and George grinned at her.

"It would be interesting." He let out, and she swatted his arm as Harry and Ginny chuckled. Hermione was about to retort saying, 'How could you ever think such a thing?' when an idea formed in her mind.

"Fine, I'll do it then." She stated, and the grin dropped off George's face only adding to Fred's. Harry looked at Hermione completely confused and surprised, as did Ginny. Hermione promptly stood up and turned towards Fred. She pulled him up with little effort and placed her hands on his shoulders with his winding to her back. They both slowly leaned towards each other until Hermione felt herself being yanked back and was on top of George's lap, his arms wrapped protectively around her.

"Okay. I'm not all right with it then." He said admitting defeat, and she pecked his nose.

"Good." She replied, and Fred slumped back into his seat disappointed.

"You just had to ruin it George. We would have finally found out." Fred said, and George sniggered.

"Yeah, but you wouldn't have liked it if I was going to kiss Angelina, would you?" He replied, and Fred nodded.

"Good point. All right I'm having a shower. See you girls later." He replied, making Harry frown at his back. Hermione attempted to get out of George's lap but found he had trapped her in his grip and sighed, knowing he wouldn't let up soon. She adjusted herself into a more comfortable position, so she was leaning against the arm of the sofa rather than his back and laid her legs out in front of her on the sofa.

"Harry, I really think you should stop using the Half Blood Prince book." She announced, and Harry groaned letting his head fall forward. "I'm serious, I spent the entire day researching who it could be and-"

"Did you find anything bad about it?" Harry interrupted.

"Well, no. I couldn't find anything about it." She replied harshly.

"Exactly. If he was dangerous it would have been easy to find out, so it's fine." He stated, and she frowned at him.

"You don't know that Harry, it could be a Death Eater's nickname for all we know." She retorted, and he sighed angrily standing up.

"Look Hermione, I'm really not in the mood for this today. I'll see you later." He said moodily, before heading upstairs to the boys dormitories. She bit her bottom lip and let her head fall back onto the arm rest, closing her eyes. She felt George's fingers run over her hair softly.

"He doesn't mean it Hermione. He found an old letter of Sirius's earlier and he's been upset about it all day." Ginny explained, causing Hermione to feel guilty.

She had never considered herself a bad friend to Harry but she was worried now. She felt like they were drifting apart and there was no-one to blame apart from herself. She knew her schedule was busier than usual due to her tutoring sessions with Ron twice a week. She spent the majority of her weekend studying and doing homework, which was no different than the other years at Hogwarts. However, as reluctant as she was to admit it, she had been spending more time with George than she previously had been. She wasn't sure why she had this change of heart, except putting it down to their physical relationship becoming more advanced. She mentally remembered to spend more time alone with her best friend. She was not going to become one of those girls who had no life outside their boyfriend and his schedule.

"I'm only trying to help." She mumbled, and Ginny waved at George sensing they wanted some privacy and headed out the common room to find Luna.

"I know, and he knows. You're just doing it in your naturally annoying way that's all." George said jokily, and she opened her eyes to give him a strict look.

"George, please. I'm not in the mood for that." She snapped lazily, and he sighed.

"Okay, you know I'm no good when it comes to you and Harry though." He said, and she tilted her head upright again.

"I know." She sighed and stared at her hands on her lap. "I think I need to spend more time with him. I haven't really been there for him recently, and I should be considering he's lost someone important to him."

"Hermione, you can't be at his side all the time. You need to take some time for yourself occasionally." George said, and she looked him in the eye.

"I know and I do. I miss him though." She confessed, and glanced at the staircase where he had been a few minutes ago. She could sense George's uneasiness with the conversation. He never was good with talking about feelings.

"Let's talk about something else, how was Quidditch practice? Fred said you spent some time with Ron after." She said, with a smile as he pulled her closer to him.

"Yeah, we're making it a weekly thing now. It was actually a lot of fun, first time I've seen him happy in ages." George admitted, and she grinned. "He's not that bad at flying. He could be on the team if those arseholes let him. He'd probably make a good Keeper…"

Hermione tuned out, sensing this conversation was slowly shifting to a discussion on Quidditch rather than Ron. She noticed George's fingers were still stroking her hair and she swallowed remembering her conversation with Ron about it the night before.

"George, what do you think of my hair?" She interrupted hesitantly, gaining a slightly confused expression from him.

"Umm at first I thought it was a bit of a lion's mane but now I'm used to it, it's more of a mass of curls." He said, and she furrowed her eyebrows at him. "But a very attractive mass of curls." He finished, and she smiled softly.

She kissed his cheek and let her head rest on his shoulder, as she wondered why Ron's comment about her hair meant more to her than George's.

* * *

><p>Ron and Hermione were doing their patrols a few nights later in a comfortable silence.<p>

Hermione was busy thinking about the promise she made to herself to spend more time with Harry and tried working out a way to do it. She quickly figured out she would have to spend less time with George, that was a given, but she wasn't entirely sure how to do it. George was spending less time with Fred as well but it was as if he didn't even care. She knew he cared for Fred in the same way she cared for Harry, even if he didn't say it. He would appreciate her wanting to spend more time Harry so he could spend more time with Fred. She tried convincing herself he would be fine with it but something told her he wouldn't be.

Ron's thoughts however were completely on Hermione. He didn't know how to act around her. He was beginning to worry if he thought of Hermione in a way a friend shouldn't. He knew he was pushing the boundaries considering his thoughts had roamed over things friends certainly wouldn't do with their friends. No-one wanks themselves silly over someone who they consider a friend but it wasn't like she was the only girl he thought about that way. Then again none of the other girls were his friend and in a committed relationship with one of his brothers.

She bit her bottom lip, and glanced over at Ron to see he looked deep in thought and she swallowed. He caught her gaze and she noticed how pink his ears had gotten.

"I umm wanted to apologise." Ron said, and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. She looked at him mildly surprised and perplexed.

"For what?" She asked, not having the slightest clue what he was talking about.

"Well ...for leaving you alone with Zabini. I mean, I overheard him boasting to Malfoy about it after he came back." Ron explained, and Hermione tried to hide her embarrassment. There was no doubt now Ron knew all about her private life with George.

"Oh. He wasn't that bad, I've had worse said to me. Anyway, that's not your fault." She admitted, and he looked awkwardly to his side.

"Yeah but still, I'm sorry. He may not have said anything if I were there." He said, and she gave him a small smile.

"I doubt that Ron. He was near the Gryffindor Common Room so there was no way you could have been there." She explained, and chuckled lightly. "What are you going to do? Walk me to the common room every night."

He blushed and laughed along with her, choosing not to disclose how he was seriously considering her suggestion.

Later on, Hermione walked in the Gryffindor Common Room to find Harry and smiled seeing him alone doing some homework. Something she didn't see very often.

She walked over and sat next to him on the sofa about to pull out some of her own homework. He glanced up and smiled seeing her.

"Hey, how was patrolling?" He asked, placing his quill on top of his Divination essay, which was mainly made up theories about the future. He leant back in the sofa and pushed his glasses up his nose. She stopped getting out her own homework and thought she had better start keeping to the promise she made to herself.

"No different than usual." She waved off and sat back with him. "How are you though? I feel like we haven't spoken properly in a long time."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm doing better, I'm not exactly beginning to forget but it doesn't hurt so much anymore." He said, and she smiled reassuringly, knowing he was referring to Sirius.

"That's great Harry. I'm sure he would want you to be happy. I want you to know that I'm here if you ever want to talk." She explained, and he smiled, needing to hear that.

"Thanks Hermione. Same goes for you, don't think you can't talk to me about stuff if you're upset." He said seriously, knowing she tended to avoid him when she was.

"I know and I will." She replied, and they sat in silence for a minute, enjoying each other's company.

"It seems like you and Ginny are getting pretty close." She said, and smiled seeing his cheeks tinge pink.

"Well I suppose we might be." He said, and she gave him a disapproving look.

"Harry don't do that. She likes you just as much as you like her." She reassured, and he smiled.

"I doubt it." He answered insecurely, and she sighed at his bashfulness.

"Harry, just tell her how you feel. I'm sure she'd be thrilled." She said, knowing Ginny would be much more than thrilled.

"Has she told you that?" He asked sceptically, and she bit her lip to stop spilling the truth that Ginny had told her.

"I'm not going to disobey her trust. All I can say is that you won't need any Felix Felicis in order to get lucky with her." She said. She hadn't realized how dirty her comment actually sounded until Harry gave her a surprised expression before laughing. She slapped his arm frowning at him. "Don't be like that. You know I didn't mean it like _that_."

"I know and I appreciate that Hermione. Although it would have been great if you did mean it _that_ way." He replied, and she glared mockingly at him.

"Don't be such a randy git." She snapped jokily, and he laughed even more. "Seriously though Harry, promise me you'll do something about it. She's waited long enough for you to get your act together. If you don't do anything soon, I'm afraid she may not be able to wait around much longer."

"Okay, okay. I'll do something soon." He lied, and she knew it.

"You promise?" She snapped, and saw his eyes flicker in confliction. She knew Harry and he would never break a promise. No matter how immature or unimportant it may seem. She truthfully wanted to see Harry happy, and she knew he would be if he was with Ginny. If she had to give him a push in the right direction, then so be it.

"Promise." He agreed, and she beamed.

"Good. How about asking her to Hogsmeade?" She suggested, and he laughed.

"Hermione, that's tomorrow." He said in a tone which sounded like he thought her suggestion was completely ridiculous.

"It's better late than never." She stated, knowing Ginny would drop her plans instantly if Harry asked her.

"I don't think I can anyway since she's in bed already." He said, and Hermione sighed. She ran a hand through her knotty hair and successfully got her hand caught in it. She brought around her hand with her hair and began untangling it. She had found recently she was running her hand through her hair a lot more. She wasn't sure why but she must have picked it up somewhere.

"Oh well, you and I can go together then." She said, and he picked up his Divination homework again.

"Sure, with George as well?" He asked, as he started writing that the alignment of Saturn and Jupiter meant he was going to die tragically in the next month.

"Actually I was thinking it could just be us two, considering we both haven't talked in awhile." She advanced, and his eyebrows raised while he wrote the last sentence.

"Oh, all right. Sounds good." He said, getting out his Charms essay and gave her a hopeful look. "Say Hermione, would you mind going over-"

"Fine." She answered, snatching the parchment off him and got out her quill.

Once she read through the essay, her and Harry chatted for a few minutes until he gave in to his exhaustion and headed to bed. She had just started reading her personal favourite book of the moment, when George came down the stairs and headed over to her.

"What are you doing up so late?" She asked, when he sat down next to her.

"I'm glad you asked Miss Granger, it occurred to me that I haven't had a good snog from my girlfriend in days and I simply couldn't sleep. What's your excuse? Reading for pleasure_?_" He answered, and she rolled her eyes, closing her book at his innuendo.

"Oh yes, you do know how I love my erotic novels." She said sarcastically, and his mouth dropped open slightly.

"That might be the hottest thing you've ever said." He said, and leant forward only to have her place a finger on his lips.

"Actually I did want to talk to you. Would you mind if I went to Hogsmeade with Harry tomorrow?" She asked, lowering her finger and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Sure, we usually do anyway." He said dismissing it, hoping they could have a replay of the other night.

"No, I mean just Harry and me. I haven't really talked to him lately." She clarified, and saw his eager expression change to a questionable one.

"You talk to him loads Hermione." He said, voicing his thoughts.

"But it's usually with you or Ginny around. I'd like to spend some time with him by myself." She wasn't sure why he was finding it such an issue. He didn't seem to have a problem with her and Harry's friendship before.

"Why?" He asked, with a little suspicion.

"Because there's some stuff we want to talk about that I'd prefer to discuss without you." She snapped, her temper rising with this interrogation.

"Like what?" He asked, laughing slightly, not noticing her tone.

"That's private George. I don't get why you're making such a big deal out of me wanting to spend some time with my best friend." She snapped, and abruptly stood up placing her hands on her hips.

"I'm not. I just want to know why you're ditching me for another guy." He answered back, and stood up as well.

"Oh God. Please don't tell me we wouldn't be having this conversation if my best friend was a girl." She shrieked, glaring at him. She took his silence as a confirmation and sighed angrily. "I can't believe you. What difference does it make that Harry's a guy?"

"The difference is pretty obvious actually." He said lightheartedly, only causing her to glare even more. Could he ever take anything seriously?

"Don't tell me you're threatened by him."

"What? It's natural for me to feel that way." He joked, taking a step closer to her. He hoped he could just kiss her and have this conversation forgotten, however she seemed to know his plan as she refused to be in a foot of him.

"No, it's not." She snapped in disbelief. How could he think such a ludicrous thing as being natural?

"He's known you longer." He said, that being the only argument he could currently think of.

"What does that mean? Should I be threatened by Lee because he's your best friend and you've known him longer?" She retorted, seeing how he liked it when she joked about something serious. He sighed angrily, confirming her thoughts that he wouldn't.

"No, I mean he might like you-"

"If the end of that sentence is 'more than a friend' then don't bother finishing it. Harry and I have never acted nor ever thought of being more then friends. He's like my brother." She snapped, wondering why this conversation was being said now instead of a year ago.

"Just because you feel that way, doesn't mean he does." He stated, and she felt her jaw drop. She couldn't, wouldn't believe what she just heard.

"I don't believe you. You've never said you felt this way before!" She said shrilly, and turned her back on him, walking over to a bigger space in the common room.

"See you're not even denying it." He declared, and she whipped back around pointing a threatening finger at him.

"I know for a fact Harry thinks of me in the exact same way I think about him. You've never shown you were so intimidated by him before." She retorted hotly, and he gritted his teeth at the accusation.

"That's because I'm usually around when you're with him." He growled, with his teeth still gritting.

"Honestly - so it's okay for me to talk to my best friend as long as you're there?" She shouted, not caring how loud she was being.

"No I didn't mean-" He said regretting his words now. He knew that tone and it meant she wasn't going to be happy with him for a few days.

"Of course, just as long as someone else is in the room. If we want a conversation in private, there's no chance." She continued shrieking, and he held his tongue that he would prefer it that way. He would never hear the end of it if he said that.

"Hermione-" He begged, and she flashed a hateful glance at him.

"Don't '_Hermione_' me like that! You're being completely idiotic! Were you claiming your territory or something whenever we're around him?" She shouted, and he couldn't hold it in anymore.

"You just don't understand what I go through." He let out, throwing his arms up in defeat.

"Please enlighten me then." She snapped, crossing her arms beneath her chest.

"It's not easy for me being your boyfriend. Do you think I like the fact the entire wizarding world thinks of you two as a couple? That everytime I tell someone you're my girlfriend they think I'm insane." He barked, making her scoff.

"What does it matter what other people think? Shouldn't it be enough for you to know that there's nothing between me and Harry except friendship?" She asked, hoping his answer wasn't going to be the one she suspected.

"Sometimes it's hard to tell." He said, disappointing her.

"I can't deal with you like this, you're being totally irrational. I don't care what you think about it but I'm still going to Hogsmeade with Harry tomorrow. Start talking to me again when you've regained your sanity." She snapped, and stormed upstairs, into the girl's dormitory before he could answer. She glanced over at Lavender, who was plaiting Parvati's hair and ignored their worried expressions. She headed over to her bed and pulled out her nightwear. Parvati looked at Lavender and then at Hermione.

"Hermione, are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?" Parvati asked, in a feigned concerned tone. Hermione rolled her eyes and turned her head back to them.

"No I'm fine, thank you." She replied curtly, knowing they only wanted another piece of gossip.

Once she got changed, she got in bed wanting to get a goodnight's sleep. She should have known that she wouldn't sleep well, considering the fight she had with George. She was still fuming with him. He had never shown any kind of jealousy towards Harry before, so why now? Fair enough at the beginning of their relationship, but they'd been together long enough for him to see there was nothing between her and Harry now. She knew she'd done the right thing. She wasn't going to let her boyfriend keep her from having friends that happened to be guys. If he felt this way about Harry, who was to know how long it would be till he started accusing Ron of having similar feelings?

She turned over in bed and did everything she could to not think about the fight. Even trying to put her mind off it didn't work. She lay awake most the night eventually getting two hours sleep before she had to wake up.

She slowly got up and dressed, and headed to breakfast. On any other day, she would have been early to breakfast, considering it was a Hogsmeade day however, she was actually late. She dazedly headed towards the Gryffindor table, purposely ignoring any red heads and sat opposite Harry. He smiled warmly at her in a greeting which she barely reciprocated looking angrily down the table.

"Didn't sleep well?" Harry asked, and she sighed.

"Yes, George and I had a fight." She said, and Harry's couldn't hide how surprised he was. It was very rare that George and Hermione had a fight that ended up in them not speaking. She gulped down some pumpkin juice and quickly downed a second one.

"Since when did that happen? What was it about anyway?" Harry asked, looking hesitantly down the table to see an unenthusiastic George, something he never thought he'd see. If Hermione was not so tired she may have considered telling a white lie to spare Harry feeling guilty but she was exhausted.

"You. The idiot thinks you have feelings for me." Hermione mumbled irritably, and Harry snorted. "I'm being serious."

This caused Harry to start choking on his cereal and he had to hit his chest a few times to swallow it down painfully. He breathed in heavily when Ginny sat down beside him and buttered some toast.

"He seriously thinks that?" Harry asked in disbelief, and Ginny furrowed her eyebrows taking a bite out of her toast.

"Who thinks what?" She questioned, and Hermione sighed looking at her food.

"George thinks Harry has a crush on me." Ginny didn't hold anything back, she burst out laughing and threw her head back. Hermione frowned at her but felt slightly better knowing she wasn't the only person who thought it was an absurd thought.

Ginny wiped away at her eyes before speaking, "I never pegged George for being the jealous type."  
>"Why would he be jealous?" Harry asked, not wanting to be a victim of a cruel Fred and George product without his knowledge.<p>

"He has got it into his head that because we're best friends and have been for many years, Harry simply must fancy me. It was rather insulting and I don't plan on speaking to him until he realizes that." Hermione explained, and Ginny nodded thinking it was fair enough. Harry shivered noticeably and Hermione looked at him curiously.

"Sorry, just imagined you and me as a couple." Harry said, and Ginny grinned, "I wondered what it'd be like if I did fancy you and just-" He shivered again. "-thinking of kissing you that way. No thanks."

Hermione gave Harry a disgusted look and couldn't help shivering slightly herself.

"Ugh, the thought of you kissing my neck." She said, and shivered even more. He chuckled causing Ginny to giggle and Hermione found it impossible to hold back her laughter. She hadn't realized her eyes had naturally gone down the table until she caught George's gaze. She instantly stopped laughing and looked away. She didn't want him seeing the obvious dark shadows under her eyes. She glanced over at the Slytherin table and found Ron, who for once was looking fairly happy.

She put it down to the fact it was a Hogsmeade day and he looked at her smiling. She smiled back, but it didn't reach her eyes and looked down at her bowl.

"Okay, I'm off to meet Luna. I'll see you later." Ginny announced, and hurried off with Harry looking longingly at her. Hermione rolled her eyes at him and took one more spoonful of cereal.

"Ready to go Harry?" She asked, and he nodded still staring at Ginny.

* * *

><p>Hermione stood outside the Quidditch shop for Harry in Hogsmeade and tightened her coat around her while she waited in the snow. She was in no mood to run into the boy she was currently not speaking to and there was a big chance that boy was inside it. She looked over the town, admiring the scenery. She saw a few children running around the street, chasing after eachother with snowballs. She rolled her eyes seeing some girls insisting on wearing mini-skirts in this freezing weather with huge bags in their hands. She eagerly gazed at the Three Broomsticks seeing how warm everyone looked in there and decided she and Harry would have to go in there next. There was nothing like a good butterbeer to warm you up on a day like this. A couple walked outside it wrapped in each other's arms looking very contented and happy. She glared at them and their happiness, seeing Harry appear at her side out the corner of her eye.<p>

"He wasn't in there." Harry announced, and she whipped her head in his direction.

"Who?" She asked, and he rolled his eyes at her.

"You know exactly who I mean."  
>"Oh well, do you want a butterbeer?" She asked, and they eagerly walked into the pub. They were slightly overwhelmed by how busy it was but pushed their way through so they could try to find a table.<p>

"It looks like every table's full." She said sighing. She really wanted that butterbeer.

"I think I can see one at the back, we'll have to sit with other people though." Harry answered, and started making his way over before she had even replied. She followed him anyways and tried looking over the crowd to see who they would be sat with, but it was useless. She caught sight of Cormac McLaggen who was in the corner with Lavender whispering something in her ear causing her to giggle. Hermione looked disapprovingly at them and he caught her gaze. She quickly looked away and nearly bumped into Harry, not realising he had stopped. She looked at the table he was planning on sitting at and caught sight of three bright red heads. She was about to snap at Harry but he was back in the crowd mouthing he'd get them some butterbeers.

She sighed and her need for a warm soothing drink won. She sat down opposite the Weasley boys and took off her scarf.

"Hey Hermione." Ron greeted, not noticing the tension between her and George. He was happily drinking his second butterbeer and had an orange bobble hat on his head. She smiled seeing how he didn't care how horribly it clashed with his hair. Maybe the twins had had a change of heart and were going to spend more time with their brother.

"Hello Ron, Fred." She said, and glared at George before turning her attention back to Ron. He looked between George and Hermione confused when Harry came back with his and Hermione's butterbeers. He took a seat next to her and handed her adrink. She smiled appreciatively at him and took a large gulp. Ron started sniggering when she put the glass down as did Harry.

"You've got a little." Ron pointed out to her upper lip and her eyes widened. She wiped away at her lips with her cheeks tinged a slight pink. She started laughing at him in return after he took a gulp of his drink. He had a foamy substance all over his lips and chin that could almost pass as a beard. It wasn't long till they were all laughing light heartedly at Ron, the tension gone. Ron hastily wiped it off furiously his ears turning bright red.

"So Forge, what is wrong with you and Miss Granger here?" Fred declared, quickly shutting Harry and Hermione up. She used her drink as an excuse to stay quiet and left it to George to answer. George mimed a motion that he wasn't going to say a word causing Hermione to roll her eyes.

"He thinks Harry fancies me." She answered, and Fred laughed while Ron looked at Harry who was looking behind his head intently, not paying attention to the conversation. He nudged Hermione and she turned her head towards him.

"Malfoy's looking odd, don't you think?" He asked her.

"When isn't he?" Ron mumbled sarcastically, and Hermione looked at Draco, who had just walked in the toilets.

"Harry, you need to give up on this Malfoy thing. Nothing has happened." She said sighing.

"You look tired." George piped up, (ignoring the conversation her and Harry were having) gaining everyone's attention. She gave him a cold look.

"I was studying and lost track of time." She snapped, and looked back at Ron. "How is your Potions coming along?"

"Urr fine. I got an Exceeds Expectations on the last essay, and he nearly got my name right, called me John." Ron said awkwardly, and she laughed in an obviously fake way.

"So Forge, why are you under the impression that Mr Potter is harbouring feelings for Miss Hermione?" Fred asked, and Harry realised he was the topic of conversation. He wasn't sure whether to answer or not but he was lucky to have Slughorn approach him.

"Ah Mr Potter, just the boy I was looking for. I'm holding an exclusive Christmas party and was wondering if you would be able to make it. Of course everyone else has been notified in our get togethers, but you seem to have a habit of always having Quidditch practice during them." Slughorn slurred, making everyone curious as to how many firewhiskeys he had consumed. Hermione was already aware of this party from going to one of the meetings and had reluctantly agreed.

"Urr yes sorry about that. I might be able to attend." Harry said, and Slughorn beamed.

"Excellent. I'll let you know the details soon." He said, and was about to leave when he caught sight of the twins. "Ah yes, you two are welcome as well. I found one of your products the other day, truly fascinating. Yes you must come!"

He flashed a look at Ron, trying to place him and walked away. Ron glared at his back while Harry's eyes flew towards the toilets seeing Draco walk out. He was heading to the door and Harry hastily finished his drink.

"I'm going after him." He told Hermione, and stood up, not allowing her to reply. She conflictedly looked at George before deciding to go after Harry. She attempted to push her way through the crowd but no-one wanted to move for her. She was about to politely ask for some people to move, to have Fred, George and Ron go in front of her and violently push everyone out her way. Fred looked back at her and winked, making her roll her eyes before she followed the clear path they had set out for her.

When outside she gave them her thanks. She looked around for Harry who was only a few feet ahead with no sign of Draco around. She sighed walking up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"He just vanished. I don't trust it." He growled.

"I tried to tell you Harry, he's not worth fretting over." She stated, and Harry looked down at the ground frustratingly.

"All right. Let's just go back." He said, and she recognised his tone of voice meaning he didn't feel like talking. They began walking with Fred, George and Ron catching up with them in an awkward silence. Ahead of them Katie Bell and her friend looked as if they were in an argument. Ron cleared his throat pulling his hat on even more, trying to think of a good way to lighten the mood. However, this was proving difficult since he still felt slightly put out from not being invited to Slughorn's party, something he decided to voice.

"So I guess you two are going to Slug's party?" He asked Fred and George, which they both grinned at.

"Of course Ronniekins." George stated, deciding if Hermione could act happy without him, he could do the same to her.

"We can't afford to ruin an opportune chance to spike some drinks-" Fred continued.

"-causing everyone to get boils-"

"-or puke up-"

"-or turn their heads to twice their size-"

"-or slip a bit of a love potion in-"

"-or-"

"I think we get the idea." Hermione snapped, and looked at the pair of them who were still grinning mischievously. "And if you two do any of those things, I'll know it's you and won't hesitate throwing you into detention."

"Ouch. You better get your senses back soon George. Your girlfriend's nasty when you're fighting." Fred announced, successfully making the situation incredibly awkward again. Hermione glared at Fred.

"Actually, I would have said that no matter the circumstances." She stated, and Harry looked guiltily down at his hands, feeling it was partially his fault for Hermione's suffering. He glanced hesitantly at George and was about to apologise, explaining he never had and never would feel about Hermione romantically when they heard an ear splitting scream. They all looked ahead hearing it and gasped at the sight of Katie Bell screaming with her body six feet above the ground. Her hair was whipped around her face and her eyes were wide open, as if she was seeing something terrible.

Hermione stood still, too shocked to move. Katie's friend Leanne was furiously grabbing at her ankles trying to pull her down causing Harry, Ron, Fred and George to rush forward to help. Katie eventually collapsed with Harry and Ron catching her. She was writhing in their hands making it nearly impossible for them to keep hold of her so they were left with no option but to lower her to the ground. She thrashed and screamed even louder.

"I'm going to get help." Harry shouted, before running towards the castle. Hermione desperately wanted to look away from Katie but it was practically impossible due to her screaming. She glanced at Ron who wore a similar expression to hers and they looked at eachother with concern.

It wasn't long till Harry returned with Hagrid and the girl was carried away. Hermione looked down at the ground and saw a package with a necklace, overhearing Leanne sobbing to Fred.

"She only touched the necklace and then started screaming. I didn't know what to do!" She wailed into her scarf, and he put a comforting arm around her shoulders. Ron looked curiously at the necklace and leant forward.

"Don't touch it!" Harry shouted, seeing him.

"I wasn't. It looks familiar that's all." Ron said, and stared at it as if that would help recall his memory. He ran a hand through his hair agitatedly. He was positive he had seen it before. It was definitely in the castle somewhere and he was fairly certain he had seen another student with it. The problem was he couldn't remember who or where it was. He sighed angrily, wishing he wasn't so stupid and useless.

Hermione bit her bottom lip before using her wand to wrap the necklace up in its packaging. They all headed back to the castle with Hermione levitating the package all the way, making sure no-one got near it as Leanne explained how Katie found the necklace.

* * *

><p><strong>A:N Rather a lot in this chapter, big fight between George/Hermione, Ron coming to terms with his feelings more, a little glimpse into his life in Slytherin, Hogsmeade…**

**I told you guys this chapter would be a long one, didn't I?**

**I'm trying to come up with a new way of saying 'thanks for the reviews' but I'm failing so I'll just have to say it again, thankyou guys! Also thanks to onlyjune, KING, Sarden, Romione4ever, Marina, Light, JustTheTwoOfUs, lillyrose, Sandrinha**

**I'd love to answer some of the reviews I couldn't reply to individually here like I usually do, but I've been sick for the past few days and I need to use my free time to catch up with work I've missed so sorry about that!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=q_9sd6kGRuk**

**Copy, paste and ****replace the closed brackets with fullstops.**

* * *

><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 9

Complications Lead to Sex

"_Be my friend,_

_Hold me, wrap me up_

_Unfold me_

_I am small_

_I'm needy."_

_Breathe Me - Sia_

"Oh Parvati, I'm in love!" Lavender exclaimed, as she skipped into the dormitories and flopped onto her bed. Hermione raised an eyebrow but said nothing as she continued reading a book on the various species of trolls.

Lavender opened her bright eyes with blushing cheeks, lying down on her bed as Parvati glanced up at her from painting her toenails.

"Really? That's the second time this month." Parvati answered, laughing softly while Hermione unconsciously listened to their conversation rather than read her book.

"I mean it this time! I started talking to him and he's so-" She let out a squealing noise not able to put into her words how she was feeling, "He's so perfect! He's so cute because he was kinda nervous when we started talking. Then I brought up Quidditch and I couldn't get him to shut up about it. He was so passionate about it and I couldn't help wondering if he was passionate about _other_ things." Lavender and Parvati both giggled at her suggestive tone causing Hermione to roll her eyes.

She decided she might as well head down to the common room considering it was still early in the evening and she didn't think she could stand the two girls suggestive talk about Ron. She would have usually been in the common room at this time anyway, but she was still refusing to speak to George and she didn't want to run into him there. However, she was now willing to put up with anything than the two girls gossiping so she headed down the staircase. She spotted Harry with Neville at a table and kept her eyes firmly on the pair of them, not wanting to risk seeing George as she headed over to them.

"Hi Harry, Neville." She greeted, attempting to seem happier than she actually felt. Neville smiled back at her and continued deciding on what move he was going to make in his and Harry's game of Wizard's chess. Harry sighed, noticing her pretence as she sat down in a spare seat next to him.

"You're going to have to talk to him sometime." He muttered, so Neville wouldn't hear him. She ignored Harry's statement, having told him that she wasn't going to speak to _him_ until he apologised or told her he was wrong and had been an idiot. She opened her book to the correct page and started reading where she last left off. She had only read one line before Harry broke her concentration. "It's been over a week."

"I am well aware of that fact Harry. There's no need for you to point it out." She said sharply, and Neville looked curiously between the two feeling slightly awkward.

"I'm just saying, that's the longest you both have gone fighting." He answered, and she pulled her feet under her lap placing her book on her legs.

"Again, I am well aware of that Harry. I'm not going to speak to him until he realizes how ludicrous it is to think you have feelings for me." She explained, not caring that Neville overheard and was now wide eyed. Harry grimaced slightly and sighed, putting Neville's king into checkmate.

"Yeah, I know. I don't like seeing you so down though. It's not like you." Harry admitted, and Neville thought it best that he leave.

"Urr see you around Harry." He said nervously, standing up.

"See you Neville." Harry answered, glancing at Neville and he quickly headed up to the Boys Dormitory. Harry looked back at Hermione to see she had immersed herself into her book again.

"I can tell you've been crying and not sleeping." He said in a hushed tone, leaning towards her so he wouldn't be heard by anyone else.

"I have not!" She snapped, giving Harry a look that if he said otherwise he would regret it. She knew very well that she may have not been sleeping as much as she usually did and perhaps she had cried nearly every night. She knew Harry though. He had been pulling this act with her all week. He would attempt to reason with her but would quickly give up. Years of friendship proved he was well aware of how stubborn she could be.

He gave her a sympathetic look but remained silent. He started putting away the chess set and she hesitantly closed her book. She could feel an awkward silence building up and knew she would have to change the subject.

"I've been thinking Harry, about the Katie Bell incident." She said, and he glanced up at her.

"Yeah?" He said in a casual tone.

She struggled getting the next words out, she had always hated admitting she was wrong. In this case, she was only admitting to possibly being wrong so she expected it to be easier. She had done it before. Even if it had been just a couple of times.

"Well, it seems like there could be a very small possibility that Malfoy had something to do with it." She stated, and saw Harry's grip tighten on the pawns he was holding. He merely ignored their shouting or he simply didn't notice.

"Took you long enough." He muttered darkly, and she chewed her bottom lip.  
>"Harry, don't be like that. You had virtually no evidence before Hogsmeade except your dislike for him." She said sternly, not in the mood for having his temper taken out on her.<p>

"Thanks for that." He answered in a similar tone, and she took a deep breath so she wouldn't start snapping at him.

"Look, my point was that there could be a small chance he has something to do with it, but we need to find out more." She explained, and he finished putting away the wizard's chess. He looked at her to check she was serious and seeing she was, he pushed his glasses up his nose ready to hear her out.

"And how are we going to do that?" He asked, and she eagerly tucked her hair behind her ears, moving her chair closer to his so they wouldn't be heard.

"We can't follow him around ourselves but-" She started, and he sighed.

"I don't want to use Polyjuice Potion again Hermione. Snape nearly had my head off last time, and he wasn't even sure it was me." He said, almost gagging at the thought of having to turn into Crabbe or Goyle again.

"If you let me finish, I meant that we could ask Ron for help." She said, and his eyebrows shot up, surprised at her proposal.

"Ron?" He questioned, just to make sure he wasn't hearing things.

"Yes, he lives with him and he would be able to keep an eye on him better than us." She informed, and Harry thought it over for a minute.

"I don't know Hermione." He said sceptically, making her frown. She personally couldn't see anything wrong with her theory.

"Why not?" She questioned.

"I don't really know him, it'd be weird asking for a favour." He said uncomfortably, avoiding her harsh gaze.

"I do though, and it's not as if we're asking for a lot. All we need is some information on how much time he spends in the common room, if he's been acting odder than normal." She explained, positive Ron wouldn't mind doing her favour considering all she had been doing for him recently.

"Yes but, I don't really want to tell him all our secrets." Harry hinted, and Hermione sighed angrily.

"We won't. He was there after all, he probably already suspects something." She snapped, thinking it would be foolish for anyone not to be suspicious. "He said he thought he recognised the necklace and he might have seen Malfoy with it. He just might not realise that yet."

Harry still had a disbelieving look on his face and a thought struck her which made her blood boil.

"This isn't because he's a Slytherin is he? I've told you he's not like them, he's different! He's-" She started, and Harry could tell she was quickly getting into one of her moods where she would undoubtedly be angry with him all day if he didn't speak up soon. He wondered for a second why it infuriated her so much but put it down to her current state of constantly being angry with George.

"No, it's not that. I'll think about it Hermione. It's because I don't know him and Dumbledore says I can't go around trusting anyone anymore." He said truthfully, hoping that would be enough to stop her from lecturing him.

"But-"

"Hermione please, I'll consider it. I promise." He begged, and she couldn't ignore the honesty in his eyes. She knew it was a slightly odd situation since most of her friends were naturally Harry's friends as well. They were around eachother so often it was abnormal for them not to know everyone they talked to. She realised in those moments that she was asking a lot of Harry. She wanted him to put his trust in someone he had only spoken to a few times and barely knew. With the history of betrayal being the main cause for his parent's death, it would be natural for him to be so unwilling about trusting strangers.

It was with that thought she reluctantly accepted his offer. She looked around the common room as they sat in a comfortable silence and she hesitated a glance at Fred and George. To anyone who didn't know George they would think he was joking around with Fred and the third year, who had mistakenly eaten a trial version of a Puking Pastille. They would see him laughing and would assume he was happy. It was natural for someone to think it. After all, they were only seeing him and not really looking at him.

However, Hermione was really looking at him and she could see through his façade and saw the sadness lingering in his eyes. She doubted even Fred noticed it because she knew how George hated being vulnerable around his best friend. She had only seen him vulnerable on one occasion and that was when his father had been attacked last year. It was only for a few minutes and she swore she would do everything she could not to see that in him again.

She tore her gaze off him before he could look back at her and told herself she shouldn't feel guilty. It was his fault he was feeling vulnerable and she felt her temper rise at how he was feeling miserable. If he was feeling miserable, why wasn't he apologising to her about his actions? He shouldn't be wallowing in self pity for being a jealous git that wasn't willing to really look at her relationship with Harry. It was similar to how she could tell he was really upset by looking at him rather than seeing his feigned happiness. Why couldn't he really look at her friendship with Harry? They were closer than most friends in a way other people couldn't understand. If George really looked at her friendship he would see that and wouldn't question it.

She could feel tears building up at this point and knew Harry could tell since he awkwardly placed a hand on her shoulder. She gave him a small smile in appreciation, knowing he was never good with her crying and did her best to hold them back. She gently took hold of his hand on her shoulder and lowered it back onto the table. She took a breath and sniffed before taking her mind off George by starting a conversation about homework.

* * *

><p>Her slightly foul mood continued on into the next day and she found herself glowering at Ron when he appeared late, with the fire of a thousand suns in her eyes. He swallowed nervously, never being on the receiving end of such a glare from her and unsurely sat himself down next to her.<p>

"Is this a new greeting you're trying out? Because I'll tell you now it's not really working for me." He attempted to joke only causing her to scoff at him and slam some books down in front of him. He jumped, not expecting his comment to rile her up even more and gave her an incredulous look. "Whoever's gotten you into this mood must have been mad."

"Oh yes! Most definitely mad! In fact, add ridiculously stupid and ignorant onto that sentence and it would describe him perfectly." She snapped, flipping the book open and started grinding her teeth together. Ron blinked a few times perplexed, unsure if he was the person she was so angry at. He hadn't been that late had he? He hesitantly leant closer to her and put on an amused expression.

"So who is ridiculously mad, stupid and ignorant?" He asked lightly, and she pulled out some parchment, nearly tearing it out her bag.

"Your idiotic brother that's who." She snapped, and Ron let a wash of relief overcome him.

"Take it he's still being a twat then." He answered, accepting the parchment she gave him.

"I wouldn't put it like that but yes. He is." She continued snapping.

"Why are you so angry with him anyways?" He asked, pulling a chocolate frog out his pocket. He thought there had to be more to it than George being jealous. It wasn't as if he could help how he felt.

Hermione couldn't hold back her outrage and wondered if all the Weasleys thought it was perfectly all right to be jealous for no valid reason.

"Do I need more of a reason than the fact he thinks Harry's in love with me?" She snapped irritably, not holding back her glare at Ron. He didn't notice this however since he was leaning back in his chair looking at the chocolate frog in his hands. He took a large bite out of it but still didn't look at her.

"Well...a bit. It's not like he's the only person that thinks that. Pretty sure everyone in the wizarding world thinks it." He said calmly, not affected by her tone, assuming she was taking her anger out on him rather than George.

"That's the excuse he used as well. I would be a bit more understanding if we hadn't been together for a year." She retorted aggressively.

Ron wasn't sure what to say so he stayed silent hoping she would continue. He finished his chocolate frog and leant back even further in his chair, crossing his arms. He gave her the impression he wasn't planning on doing any work until she finished. She dropped her quill and closed her eyes pinching her temple.

"It feels as if he doesn't trust me." She admitted, and Ron's eyes snapped up to hers. She let her hand drop and lazily opened her eyes feeling utterly exhausted. She hadn't realised how stressful a relationship could be before. It was a lot different when things weren't so serious between them. She almost found herself missing the casual stage of their relationship. They didn't spend as much time together and didn't have to go out of their way to see one another. It was simple and easy.

Now that they had said those three words, it seemed everything had to change. All of a sudden she was obligated to spend all her free time with him and it seemed natural for them to have sex. She didn't know whether she wanted to yet. She felt she was ready but a part of her kept on saying it wasn't right.

However, she refused to let herself think her relationship was better when it had begun and continued her explanation, "I mean even if Harry did have those sorts of feelings for me. It's not as if I would go off with him."

"Maybe George needs to know that." Ron said unsurely. He knew if he was in George's place he would need a confirmation that Hermione never felt anything other than friendship with Harry. Ron immediately regretted that thought since he started thinking about what it would be like if he was in George's place. He would be the popular one with all the jokes. He would be on a Quidditch team and wouldn't even know the meaning of loneliness. He would be in the house he wanted to be in and not the one where people thought he was a freak for being in it. And in some ways, most importantly, he would be the one with Hermione. He could hold her hand simply because he wanted to. He could take her in his arms in this situation and make sure she would only smile when she was with him. He could kiss her showing how much he felt for her.

"But he should! I've done nothing to make him think I'd ever be unfaithful. He needs to work that out on his own." She snapped, breaking Ron's train of thought. He was thankful in a way but he looked at her properly for the first time since his arrival. It didn't take a genius to work out how miserable she was. The dark shadows under her red swelling eyes showed that. Her hair was more wild than usual, giving the impression she couldn't even be bothered to brush it she was so fatigued. She looked like a complete mess and he knew what she needed. A reason for George's feelings.

"I know George. And I mean, he comes off all confident and everything. It's just he still has insecurities. He may not show it often but when he does, it sort of has to be forced out of him. He's not the most emotional person on the planet so he doesn't feel the need to talk about his feelings. I guess he doesn't like showing that side of himself, afraid he'll get humiliated for it."

Hermione looked over at Ron and let his words sink in for a minute, thinking over them. It did make sense. He hadn't felt the need to tell her he loved her until she found out he did. She ran a hand through her hair agitatedly, wondering why George had to be so complicated when he always seemed to be so straight forward. They wouldn't even be in this situation if he had explained how he felt as soon as he felt it.

"I still wish he told me more about it. I would never humiliate him for voicing his feelings and he knows that. I'd tell him if I felt that way."

Ron, once again, didn't know how to reply. He started looking around awkwardly not sure if he should really be the person she was explaining her feelings too. This was more Ginny's territory of conversation. He was more understanding of how George was feeling if he was honest. Having to live up to 'The Boy Who Lived' couldn't be an easy task. It would be instinctive for anyone to feel slightly insecure about their girlfriend being close friends with such a hero.

He started thinking again if he was in George's place as Hermione's boyfriend. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that Ron would inevitably be incredibly jealous of Harry. He was already jealous of him. Considering how everyone in the wizarding world knew who he was, had enough money to never work in his life and he had a best friend. Something Ron never even came close to having.

Hermione saw the distant expression in Ron's eyes and thought he must be getting tired of this conversation. She felt guilty for him always being the one she spilled all her feelings too. It wasn't fair to him and she immediately thought she would have to put a stop to it.

"Anyway, I'm here to tutor you, not to discuss my personal life. How about Transfiguration today?" She suggested, with a fake smile on her face.

They continued studying for an hour when Hermione let out a huge yawn which she attempted hiding only to fail miserably. Ron let out a snigger seeing her and started packing away her things for her.

"What are you doing?" She asked, trying to sound outraged when it actually came out as a sigh.

"You're clearly tired and I'm not going to learn anything if you're like that." He said, thinking he had used an excuse she would value. Secretly, he was hoping he could get in another hour's flying and a little part of him was worried about her well-being. She hadn't been herself for much too long in his opinion.

"No, I'm fine. We haven't gone over the necessary stages in order to transfigure a large object into something significantly smaller." She snapped, trying to grab her bag as he started shoving her belongings inside it. "Stop it! Ronald, you're not putting them in right."

"What? It's a bag and I'm putting your stuff in it. How is anything I'm doing wrong?" He retorted chuckling, and she made an attempt at snatching her bag away again, only to have him stand up abruptly. He held it high above his head so there was no way she could get it. He had momentarily forgotten that this was Hermione Granger he was dealing with, a stubborn woman who never gave up without a decent fight.

"Ronald! Stop acting so immaturely! Now, please give me back my belongings!" She snapped, now standing with a hand on her hip and the other held out in front of her, expecting him to place it back in her hand.

"Not until you admit you're too tired for this and go back to the common room." He answered, with a lopsided grin on his face seeing her glare at him. She strode over to where he was and tried to reach up for her bag.

"Ronald!" She snapped, and he laughed when she went on her tip toes, but was still a good thirty centimetres to short. She rested a hand on his shoulder as a slight boost for her which practically did nothing. She took a few steps closer, causing him to slowly stop laughing realising their close proximity. He felt tempted to back away from her, overcome with foreign feelings. He swallowed, trying to memorize the way she felt pressed up against him and stared into her eyes which were still on her bag in his hand. He physically had to press his hand against his side to stop it from instantly reaching out for her waist which he was terribly tempted to do.

He was so preoccupied with her, he hadn't realised he had unconsciously started lowering his arm and she used the opportunity to quickly take her bag from him. She grinned at him in success and stepped away from him, before emptying the bag's contents so she could put it back in the appropriate order.

"Right, well you've urr got your bag back. Deal was once you get it you're back in the common room so see you later." Ron rambled hastily. He grabbed his own bag, not even throwing it over his shoulder before rushing off. She glanced up about to retort too see him disappear out the library and dash around the corner. She looked over slightly confused but thought nothing of it and decided she really should try to catch up on her sleep. After all, she had found herself beginning to daydream in Charms class earlier. Something she never wished to repeat.

She glanced at her watch, surprised to see it was much later then she expected and hastily made her way to the common room. She had only taken a few steps inside before someone blocked her path. She looked up to see George with a determined expression and she sighed.

"Did you want something?" She asked breathlessly, pulling her bag higher up on her shoulder. She swallowed and wiped her forehead not caring how unattractive she appeared. George took a breath before beginning.

"I was a twat, all right? There's clearly nothing going on between you two and I was an idiot to think otherwise. I'm sorry." He said, with a hopeful smile and she crossed her arms beneath her chest. She raised a challenging eyebrow at him. If that was all he was going to say as an apology she certainly wasn't going to forgive him.

"How did you think I was going to respond to that? Because, I am not going to jump into your arms and forgive you in a second." She snapped, and he chuckled lightly scratching his forehead.

"Of course not, I know you and that was only the start. I really am sorry. I don't even know what I was thinking anymore. It's clear Harry doesn't have those kind of feelings for you. I had no right for considering you would do anything with him either. You're not like that. I feel like a complete arsehole so …can we just forget I was a jealous prat please?" He apologised, and she scrutinised him for a minute. He did sound genuinely sorry and he regretted everything he had said. She didn't even need to explain that she would never think of Harry as more than a friend like Ron had suspected she would. He managed to work it out for himself and looked at her friendship with Harry rather than just seeing it. She could feel her wall breaking down and when he gave her another hopeful, mischievous grin she felt the wall collapse completely.

"You're right. You were a complete arsehole. And a delusional jealous prat." She said in a stern tone, and he nodded. She didn't want to let on she had completely forgiven him yet.

"Yes. An utter delusional jealous prat." He agreed, and she slowly began making her way over to him.

"An utter delusional jealous inconsiderate prat." She added, and he nodded some more.

"An utter delusional jealous inconsiderate mindless prat." She continued slowly making her way towards him and had to hold back her laughter at the sight of him doing his best to be completely serious.

"An utter delusional jealous inconsiderate mindless stupid prat." She stated, and let her bag fall to the ground. She gave in and smiled. He grinned back, now aware she was playing with him.

"An utter delusional jealous inconsiderate mindless stupid disrespectful prat." He finished, and she placed her hands on his shoulders.

"I think that's plenty of adjectives to describe how you've been for one day. What do you say we get to the part where I forgive you now?" She suggested, and he beamed. She took his hand in hers and they then sat down on the sofa with Fred and Ginny. Harry walked into the scene nervously, unsure if George would still be angry with him. Fred and Ginny both gasped dramatically seeing George's hand in Hermione's.

"Oh my, are they back together?" Fred said, holding a hand to his chest with a look of adoration. He started waving a hand to his eyes as if he was trying to hold back his tears.

"I think they are." Ginny replied, with genuine happiness and Hermione felt herself blush.

"Yeah, now shoo. We have some much needed snogging to catch up on." George said jokily, and Fred nodded in understanding and quickly disappeared. Hermione shot George a disapproving look and hit his arm causing Ginny to giggle as she walked upstairs. Harry remained and was about to ask George if they were all right.

"Sorry I was such a prick Harry." George apologised, and Harry let out a sigh of relief. "Don't be surprised if you find your _regions_ are a bit smaller than usual for the next few days though. Force of habit."

"George!" Hermione snapped, hitting his shoulder and Harry laughed slightly.

"Kidding." George said, and Harry vacated the area, sensing what was about to happen between the two.

"George, you really shouldn't say things like that." She snapped, and he grinned. "What are you smiling about?"

"Nothing, just missed you and your nagging." He commented, and she glared at him.

"I'm starting to reconsider my choice in forgiving you now." She said sceptically, and he smiled even more. He leant forward and pressed his lips against hers. She melted into it, not realising how much she had missed the comforting feeling that she got from kissing. She wound her arms around his neck letting him deepen it as she doubted anyone would walk in on them at the late hour.

This continued for a few minutes more until she pulled away as a thought struck her.

"I want to make one thing clear." She said, and he sighed sensing her serious tone. "Don't keep how you're feeling away from me anymore. I don't like fighting with you contrary to your belief."

He shrugged his shoulders casually thinking nothing of it. "Okay."

Her eyebrows raised, mildly surprised as she expected more of an argument out of him. Maybe Ron was being slightly overdramatic about it. Or maybe George was lying. She didn't think he would lie to her and he didn't appear to be that way.

She let him kiss her again but abruptly pulled away again. He groaned frustratingly and his head fell forward slightly, not expecting her to pull away so quickly. He lazily opened his eyes and saw she was nibbling her bottom lip. Knowing she only did this when nervous or agitated, he kept quiet.

"Don't think what I'm about to say, has anything to do with the fact we had a fight." She said, and he resisted the urge to sigh.

"All right." He said slowly, and she took a breath.

"I don't think we should go any further in our physical relationship then what we have done already." She stated defiantly, putting on her usual confident composure. It would have been impossible for him to disguise the disappointment in his face and she knew she was asking a lot from him.

"Hermione, I don't want to sound like a complete needy git but we haven't actually gotten very far in our 'physical relationship'." He said, and she tucked her hair behind her ears.

"I know. And I know I said I wanted to. It's more to do with the inconvenience it would be." She explained, and he held back a laugh.

"You think us having sex as an inconvenience?" He questioned with a playful smile, and she sighed at how it did sound that way.

"No, that's not what I meant. It's just because we're here and the Room of Requirement seems to be pretty useless at the moment." She said, and he placed his hand on top of hers.

"Well we could always find an empty classroom." He said, leaning closer to her and she pushed him away in an instant.

"George!" She barked, and he laughed.

"Joking. You're much too proper for that I know. Can't blame a guy for trying though."

"George, don't." She said wanting to sound a lot stronger than she felt. She hated how such a simple sentence from him felt pressuring somehow, even when she knew he was joking. She knew George had been more than patient with her and was, in some ways, surprised that he had stayed with her for as long as he did. Most guys would have left her months ago.

He saw her confidence had weakened and moved closer, running a hand down her arm.

"It's fine Hermione. If I was in this for the sex, I would have given up after a week or two. You know how impatient I am." He said, and the edges of her lips curved up.

"You're really okay with this then?" She asked, and looked up into his eyes to check.

"'Course. I know you want to and hell I definitely want to. It's just the wrong place. I know you want more than a quick few minutes in a classroom somewhere and it wouldn't be right for me to ask that of you. We just have to wait another month or two till the holidays."

She briefly smiled at him, hoping he didn't see through it and let him kiss her again. She kept to herself that she was actually having doubts about whether she wanted to go further or not. How could she tell him that? She didn't know why she was thinking it herself and therefore it would be pointless to try and explain it to him.

There was a small voice in her head saying it wasn't right so she had put it down to the place being wrong. She knew she didn't feel comfortable with that and thought this uneasy feeling would go away. However, it seemed to have grown in size; now that they had started planning towards it. He said it himself, they were going to do it in the holidays. He assumed that was what she meant and she thought she meant that.

The uneasy feeling increased as he pulled her closer to him and deepened the kiss. Maybe it was the expectation behind it? That she felt pressurised to do it, not necessarily by him but by her age, it was expected to have sex. She spent most of her life aiming to please other people. Her parents, teachers and so on. That was different though. It did please herself in part as well. She was aiming towards a good future in pleasing other people in that way. The only person to gain from her giving in and having sex, was George. While that was good in some respect, she was supposed to gain from it too. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go through with it if all she was going to gain was more uncertainty.

There was one other option. She wasn't too keen on thinking about it but that didn't make it any less of a possibility. The reason could be that she really was ready to have sex, despite the expectations. It was simply the fact that George wasn't the right person to go through it with.

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><p><strong>A:N I know this chapter's shorter than the last one but that was a one off really. Anyway, quality's better than quantity right?**

**Thanks for all the reviews dears! Also thanks to KING, Sarden, Marina, Romione4ever, Sandrinha and larisariquelme. I really do mean it as well!**

**This was sort of a transitional chapter in a way, but it included a few things that needed to happen. There's lots of drama in the next one meh haha ;) I'm cruel I know, teasing you all with that comment.**

**As always, next chapter will be up Sunday!**

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**Thanks for reading!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=AcS6zbCghZ4**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 10

Scars and Bruises

"_Don't be afraid_

_What your mind conceals_

_You should make a stand_

_Stand up for what you believe_

_And tonight we can truly say_

_Together we're invincible."_

_Invincible - Muse  
><em>

"It's a wonder there aren't trails of mud around the halls, with scum like that around the place." Draco sneered, just loud enough for Hermione to hear outside Potions. She was leaning against the wall beside the door reading her Herbology book, doing her best to ignore the taunts he had sent her way for the past few minutes. Her Arithmancy class had finished slightly earlier than usual and she was waiting for Harry to show from his Divination class. More often than not, he ended up late from it, travelling from one of the highest classrooms to the dungeons it was bound to happen. She could hope though.

"Hey Hermione." Ron greeted, appearing at her side. She glanced up at him and smiled, reluctantly closing her book.

"Hello Ron." She answered, placing her book in her bag.

"You seem better. Take it you and George made up." He commented, seeing the genuine smile on her face. He feigned a smile of his own slightly unsure as to why he wasn't feeling happy for her.

"Yes. I'm so relieved, I never realised how stressed I'd become over it. Hopefully there won't be a repeat of that anytime soon." She said, getting a dazed look in her eyes that Ron was familiar with. He looked down at the ground awkwardly for a second and looked back at her to see her expression remained the same. He felt a twinge in his chest seeing the soft smile on her face. A smile about someone else, he had to remind himself.

"You really love him, don't you?" He blurted out. He closed his eyes regretfully, not believing he had been stupid enough not to think before opening his mouth. Her smile dropped and she turned her head, not entirely sure how to respond. His question was so abrupt and came as such a surprise it took her a moment to collect herself.

"What's the deal Granger? Gotten bored of one blood traitor so moved onto the only other one left?" Malfoy commented, breaking Ron and Hermione's eye contact. Hermione glared at him at the accusation and Ron did the same.

"Do yourself a favour Malfoy before I let your friends know what you said to me the other night." She snapped. She crossed her arms smugly seeing the smirk fall from his face and would have smiled, if he didn't replace the expression with one of pure loathing. He clearly remembered what he had said the night he caught her having a private moment with George.

"And you should do everyone a favour and fuck off to where you belong mudblood!" He snapped, taking a step forward and Ron couldn't hold himself from lunging towards him. Luckily, Hermione knew this was coming and grabbed his arm.

"Don't Ron." She said in a hopeful tone, seeing his clenched fists and tense jaw. He glared darkly at Draco who was looking mildly surprised at his reaction.

"You call her that one more time and I'll make sure you'll never be able to say anything again." He growled, and Draco smirked.

"So you do speak? All these years I thought you were simply too thick to come up with anything decent to say and stopped." Draco retorted, and Hermione tightened her grip on Ron, feeling him tense even more.

"Shove off Malfoy." He spat, as the rest of the class started looking at the scene curiously.

"You know what Weasley, I would say you'd pay for that. Then again I doubt your family could afford it." He smirked even more seeing Ron attempt to lunge for him again and Hermione took hold of his arm in both of her hands using all her strength to keep him back.

"Ron please! He's not worth it." She begged, seeing how furious he was and suspected if he did any damage to Draco he'd end up expelled. She would never forgive herself knowing he had been defending her as well. Of course, she would never let him know that.

"I mean it. Say what the fuck you want about me. But disrespect my family or anyone else and I'll rip your bloody throat out." Ron snapped, and Hermione was beginning to suspect he had been wanting to say this for quite some time but never had a good enough reason. She was very familiar with the Weasley temper but it became clear in those moments that Ron suffered the most severely out of the family from the case. She could see the flames of hatred in his eyes and thought if he was giving her that look, she would be scared of him.

"I'd like to see you try. Can't say the same for the scum though. It would take weeks to get the dirt off." Draco remarked, glancing at Hermione, clearly enjoying Ron's rage.

Hermione looked pleadingly at Ron, ignoring Draco's comment, and let her hands drop down his arm to his hand. He felt sparks spread through his bloodstream where she touched him and he felt himself calm down almost instantly. She'd never touched his bare skin and he tried not to show his surprise at how much it affected him. He looked at her as Slughorn appeared, unaware of the tension in the air and ushered the class inside. Ron continued looking into Hermione's eyes seeing the desperation and affection in them that made his stomach flip. Her gaze quickly changed when she saw out the corner of her eye that Draco was now in the classroom and she sighed in relief.

"You really shouldn't let him get to you like that." Hermione said disapprovingly, but gave him an appreciative smile.

"Yeah well, it's not that easy. I meant what I said. I don't care what he says about me, but when he says stuff like that about you or my family… I just lose it." Ron attempted to explain, and was about to run his hands frustratingly through his hair but there was something stopping him. Her hands. She was still holding tightly onto his. "Urr Hermione?"

He started shaking his hand and she blushed dropping it. She hurriedly turned away from him and mumbled something about them getting into class, before rushing inside. He groaned inwardly, wondering why he even brought up she was holding his hand. She clearly hadn't noticed and probably would have held it longer if he hadn't pointed it out. He couldn't believe how pathetic he was beginning to sound. He really must be lonely if he was happy enough to have someone hold his hand and feel overjoyed by it. _She has a boyfriend that just happens to be your brother!_ He told himself. She could do better than him, even if she wasn't going out with George. There was no chance he could get a girl with her intelligence. He wasn't nearly smart enough.

He sighed angrily and wondered why he was having all these conflicting emotions over one girl. He put it down to his loneliness for the time being. It was natural for him to feel this way over the only girl who had ever paid any attention to him outside his family. Maybe if he got a girlfriend he wouldn't be feeling like this. Lavender Brown seemed pretty interested in him, perhaps he could try something with her.

It dawned on him that he was the only one left outside and he made his way inside where the last spot available just happened to be on Lavender's table.

* * *

><p>Later that day, Hermione was in the Gryffindor Common Room writing an essay with her thoughts far away from her moment with Ron earlier. She had just finished the third paragraph when she glanced over at Harry who was flicking through the Half Blood Prince's book once again. He furrowed his eyebrows over a certain word and looked at her perplexed.<p>

"Hermione, have you heard of this spell 'sectumsempra'?" He asked, and she was about to reply she hadn't and tell him for the hundredth time not to read that book. As luck would have it though, Fred and George had just walked in and Fred snatched the book out of Harry's hands and looked at the spell.

"How creepy! It's for enemies apparently!" He mused, and George grinned. They both had the same thoughts and both got out their wands.

"Don't you dare Fred!" Hermione snapped, not liking their idea of a joke one bit. "You have no idea what that spell does!"

"Yeah, but it was obviously done by a student so it can't be that bad." Fred answered, and raised his wand. Hermione got up so she could whip her wand out her pocket about to use 'expelliarmus', since it was evident that Fred wasn't going to be put off his idea. She wasn't quick enough though. He had uttered the word 'sectumsempra' with his wand aiming roughly at George. George fell back from the power of the spell and Fred lowered his wand.

"What a crap spell! It didn't do anything to you, did it Georgie?" Fred said, to not hear George respond. Hermione stopped glaring at Fred and moved around the sofa so she could see George. It appeared as if he was trying to get his bearings before standing, the way he was still lying on the ground. That was if you didn't take in his anguished expression and how he had stopped breathing.

She felt her heart stop beating for a second before her instincts kicked in and she rushed over, collapsing onto her knees by his side.

"George! What's wrong?" She asked, trying to remain calm, but panic and confusion seeped into her tone. She placed her hands on his cheeks to feel they were shockingly cold as the common room fell silent. Fred knelt down by his twin and looked all over him, trying to work out what was causing him pain. Harry stood up hesitantly in shock and glanced over the sofa, similar to the other Gryffindors.

Tears pricked in George's eyes and he did nothing to hold them back proving how hurt he actually was. Hermione swallowed the lump in her throat with her heart racing as she tried to work out what to do. She took out her wand, running every spell through her mind but knew she could do nothing until she worked out what was wrong with him. George was now gasping for breath with his body trembling and she looked down at his chest to see some parts of his robes had darkened. She ripped them open and gasped out at the sight before her.

His whole shirt was soaked in blood. She let herself cry silently at the sight and Fred visibly paled.

"H-Harry go get help!" She shrieked, tearing George's shirt open to reveal deep gashes that seemed to be getting deeper like they were eating away at the skin. She pointed her wand at his throat her focus on trying to get him to breathe. "A-Anapeo!"

George visibly started taking deeper breaths and she glanced back at Harry to see he hadn't moved.

"Harry! Now! Get Professor McGonogall! Or someone, anyone!" She barked, before swiftly turning her attention back to George. She saw silent tears pouring down his cheeks as Harry and Fred ran out the common room.

She ran a hand over George's cheek softly, mumbling words of comfort trying to think of any spell that could help. "Episkey!"

_Stupid Hermione, this is hardly a minor injury,_ she scolded herself and heard George whimpering in pain. She looked up at his eyes with tears still pouring and felt his hand clutch onto hers desperately. "It's okay, you'll be all right."

She didn't fully believe her words but continued attempting to think of any spell that could work. "Finite incantatem!"

She let out a relieved sigh, seeing that this managed to stop the gashes from getting any deeper and felt George squeeze her hand in appreciation. "Tergeo!" She stuttered, and saw the blood evaporate off George's skin before she quickly cast, "Ferula!"

She bit her bottom lip as bandages shot out of her wand and she swallowed. Ginny had finally managed to push her way through the crowd to see what the commotion was about and stared at the scene in front of her for a second. She ran over to Hermione and lifted George up into a seating position. "I-I'm sorry. I don't know what else to do." Hermione sobbed, as she shakily started bandaging up the wounds.

The faintest mark of a smile appeared on George's now incredibly white face before his eyes rolled back into his head. Ginny struggled keeping him up, making it clear he was unconscious and Harry and Fred returned. Professor McGonogall and Snape were behind them and they both looked horrified at the sight in front of them.

"Miss Granger what-" McGonogall started, but saw the distressed expression on Hermione who refused to stop bandaging George. Snape stood forward and pointed his wand at George muttering an incoherent spell.

"He has to be taken to hospital wing. Severus, could you? I need to speak with Potter, the Weasleys and Miss Granger. Could you also alert the Weasley boy in your house what has happened as well?" McGonogall said, and Snape hastily levitated George's body. He stepped through the portrait hole and made his way down to the hospital wing while McGonogall fixated her gaze on the students she had mentioned. "My office. Now."

"It's my fault." Fred declared, causing everyone to look at him. "No-one else's."

He glanced at Harry and gave him a look saying he shouldn't blame himself in the slightest. Ginny wrapped her arms around herself shivering, even though it was comfortably warm in the room and looked down at the floor with glassy eyes.

"Okay Mr Weasley, if you'll come with me." McGonogall said, and walked out the portrait hole. Fred followed and left the common room in an uncomfortable silence. Hermione wiped away at her cheeks, feeling her stomach churn uncomfortably. Flashes of George's gashed chest and his panic stricken expression kept appearing in her mind. Another horribly churn in her stomach broke her from her thoughts and she looked over at Harry who she knew was staring at her.

"Hermione I-" He started, but she couldn't bare to hear his apology and stormed out the common room. Her burst of anger caused more tears to leak out and she slowed her pace. She knew Georgewould never let her live it down if he saw her crying over him still. That was even if she would be allowed to see him. She wouldn't be able to for at least a few hours, knowing Madam Pomfrey. She could still try though.

Her tears slowly stopped when her anger overcame her sadness. She clenched her fists, crossing her arms beneath her chest and sped up her pace unconsciously. She furiously wiped away the remains of her tears with anger streaming in her veins. Anger at Harry for being so obsessed with the book that was the reason for all this trouble. Anger at Fred for being stupid enough to try out a spell without knowing what it would do. Anger at herself for not being able to help more or put enough effort into stopping it. And finally anger at George that he let it happen.

With this new found rage, she pushed open the doors to the Hospital Wing and saw there were curtains drawn around a few beds. She expected Madam Pomfrey to come shouting out at her for bursting in with such abruptness but she didn't. Hermione sighed, deciding to wait until she was found by the woman, not wanting to disturb other sick students.

"Hermione?" She heard someone say and she whipped her head around to see Ron sitting on a chair in some shadows. She blinked a few times but took a few steps towards him, attempting a smile.

"I take it you know what happened to George?" She said in a slightly hoarse voice, figuring that was why he was down there. She sniffed and he nodded grimly.

"Pomfrey said no-one's allowed to see him for at least an hour." Ron explained, thinking he'd save her the trouble of waiting.

"I thought she wouldn't." She said sighing, and was about to head back to the common room when she noticed Ron was clearly staying where he was. "Are you seriously going to wait for an hour to see him?"

"Oh, urr," His eyes turned red and he cleared his throat awkwardly. "Sure."

"Don't patronise me." She snapped, and he scratched the back of his head pondering on whether to tell her or not. She took a few steps closer and he stumbled getting out of his chair to back away from her. "Ron - honestly, stop acting so immaturely!"

"I-it's nothing! Just go back to your common room. Curfew's starting soon." He said hopefully, thinking that she would instantly return at the thought of breaking school rules. He held the back of the chair he was sitting in as if he would use it as a weapon if she came any closer. She knew he would never harm her though so the threat was pointless. She continued storming up to him and he backed away until he felt his back collide with the wall. Unlucky for him the moonlight was shining brightly through the window and with the angle he was now in, his face was entirely lit up.

Hermione gasped raising a hand to her mouth when she took in his appearance. It wasn't even close to the state George was in but it was still shocking for her. His lip was split and judging by the amount of dried blood around his lips, he must have been bleeding inside his mouth too. The skin was swollen and painfully red on his jaw showing he was getting a bruise whereas his cheek bones were already bruised. There were a few scratches on his forehead which looked like they were caused by stone, the way they grazed only on one side. It was obvious he had a black eye by the way it was also bruised and swollen. However, what made it worse was that a blood vessel had burst in the same eye and it appeared that it must have been quite a few, considering how half his eye was bright red. Even though she couldn't see it, she guessed he had done something to the back of his head since he winced when his head lightly touched the wall.

He saw her shocked and sympathetic expression and swallowed, attempting to smile which only made him wince again.

"Don't suppose you'd believe me if I told you I fell down the stairs?" He attempted, laughing slightly while saying this but stopped instinctively as he felt a stab of pain from his ribs. He expected her to snap at him and demand him to tell her who was the cause of this. What she did next surprised him.

Her hand dropped from her mouth and she walked closer to him. She gently took hold of his hand for the second time that day and led him to a chair which he sat in. She stood in front of him and gracefully ran her fingers through his fringe, lifting it up to see the rest of his forehead. He parted his lips, willing for his heart to stop beating so wildly at her simple movement. He stopped looking up at her and stared straight forward to realise her chest was directly in line with his eyesight. His eyes widened and he quickly looked down at the floor, doubting he would ever live the humiliation of her seeing him aroused. Even if he had seen her bra through her slightly see through blouse. _Stop thinking about it!_ He told himself and felt her fingertips on his scalp, nearly making him shudder.

It would be so easy for him to just do all the things he had spent endless nights thinking about. All he'd have to do was run his hands behind her knees, making them buckle. She'd fall onto him, straddling his lap and he'd quickly run his hands to the back of her neck pulling her head down to his. He would ravish her lips with his, not caring that his lip would split again. She would lick the blood away from his lips simply because it was more of him and run her hands down his chest. A chest that wasn't currently being mended since it wasn't his brother's.

Ron forced himself out of his fantasy for a thousand reasons and felt the familiar sensation he had now grown accustom to. One of pleasure but weighed down with depression, knowing he could never have what he desired. She stopped running her hands through his hair, having checked his head for bruising now, and took a step away from him as she looked down at him.

"Don't lie to me, who did this to you?" She said sympathetically.

"It's nothing Hermione. Don't worry about me. You should be more concerned about George right now." He retorted, not able to hold back the spite in his tone. She narrowed her eyes noticing his tone and placed her hands on her hips.

"You are well aware that I've done everything I can for him! And you will tell me who did this to you this instant!" She snapped, and ran the day's events through her head. She figured out who it was before he looked into her eyes with a look saying she knew who it was. "It was Malfoy, wasn't it? From what you said to him before Potions."

"Yeah, well so what if it was." He snapped angrily, not liking her seeing him weaker than he usually was. She sighed, sensing this and had a feeling if she started shouting at him like she wanted to do, it would harm their friendship. He looked down at the ground not able to see the pity in her eyes.

"Was it just him?" She asked hesitantly, thinking this was a lot of damage for just one pair of fists.

"No. Got his bloody cronies to hold me back and Zabini got in a few hits too." Ron said venomously, still staring at the ground.

"Ron." She said calmly, hoping he would look up at her but he refused to. She continued anyway, "You shouldn't have said those things if you knew he would do this to you."

"I don't give a crap all right? He wasn't going to get away with what he said to you." He snapped, and she felt her insides warm knowing the reason he was in such a state was because he had protected her. She licked her lips, trying to ignore the feeling of comfort and focused on how he was clearly in pain. Unfortunately, this meant she ended up doing what she had promised herself not to do and she started shouting.

"That's not your place to deal with it! You know that! You shouldn't have been ignor-"

"Cheers Hermione. I've just gotten the shit beaten out of me for you but that's clearly not important." He snapped, standing up abruptly.

"No, Ron! I didn't mean it like that! I meant you know more than anyone what Malfoy's like and-"

"Save it. Next time, I won't bother all right? You clearly think you're strong enough to handle his insults by yourself. I don't know why I even tried if this was the thanks I was going to get." He shot, and brushed past her, storming out the hospital wing. She could tell behind his harsh comments that he was secretly hurt by her apparent lack of appreciation for his actions and felt a pang in her chest knowing it.

"Ron! Please! It's not that I'm not grateful!" She shouted after him, and he stopped walking. He turned his head back hesitantly and stared at her, showing he wasn't going to interrupt her again. "I am, truly. But I don't want you fighting my battles for me if it means you'll get hurt instead."

He turned around fully towards her and ran a hand through his hair, taking a few steps towards her. He let his hand fall to his side before he looked straight into her eyes.

"I don't care, it doesn't matter if I get hurt. You told me you've been putting it up with it for years and how much it hurt you. I hated knowing that, so I thought I would try and do something about it." He explained, doing his best to not care about how red his ears were going at his declaration. He wasn't sure if he was pushing the boundaries of friendship, with letting out how he felt when he heard her being insulted. In that moment, he honestly couldn't care less if he was. It amazed him how much relief he got from this small statement of honesty about his feelings for her and he was half tempted to pour out all his feelings. It only took a second for that thought to be pushed out his brain, when he thought of the consequences it would have.

She chewed her bottom lip unsure how to reply. She had two options, one; to continue reprimanding him and possibly get into a huge argument or two; thank him again. She knew which of the two she really wanted to do and went with it.

"Thank you Ron. It means a lot that you put up with that for me." She admitted, not able to look in his eyes and embarrassedly blushed, looking down at her hands. She hesitantly looked up and saw him shrug his shoulders only to make him wince. "Come here, I'm sure I could help you a little with that."

"I believe that is my area of expertise not yours." She heard Madam Pomfrey snap from behind her. Hermione whipped around and saw she was carrying handfuls of bloody bandages. Hermione felt her eyes prick knowing who they had just been on and wrapped her arms around her middle at the sight. Madam Pomfrey quickly made the bandages disappear with a flick of her wand and headed towards Ron tutting.

"When will boys ever learn." She muttered to herself, forcing Ron to sit on a bed and pulled out her wand.

"Can I see George?" Hermione asked, as Madam Pomfrey ran the tip of her wand over the wounds on Ron's face. As the tip moved over his skin the swelling and bruising evaporated back into his flesh and left a faint mark in its place.

"He lost an awful amount of blood. He's too weak for visitors." She answered sharply, and looked pleased at her work seeing Ron's face now back to normal. "Is there anywhere else?"  
>"Yeah, my umm shoulder hurts quite a bit and my back." Ron said, and Hermione looked over at where she now knew George lay. Ron saw her look of longing and swallowed trying not to show the stab of pain he felt in his gut.<p>

"Well, you'll need to take your shirt off so I can tend to those." Madam Pomfrey snapped, and a blush crept up Ron's neck before he shakily undid the buttons on his shirt. She looked back at Hermione and sighed angrily at the fact she was still there. "Fine, you may see him for five minutes. That's all."

Hermione flashed her head back at Madam Pomfrey to double check her wishes had been voiced to see Ron remove his shirt. Her eyes widened and she quickly darted her eyes back to Madam Pomfrey. "Thank you."

She hid her blush behind her hair and hurried towards George's bed. She opened the curtains around it and peeked inside to see him lying in the cot with closed eyes. She could tell he wasn't really asleep and stepped inside closing the curtains behind her. She looked down at his unnaturally pale face, since that was the only part of him not covered up and he slowly opened his eyes. He gave her a weak smile.

"I bet you've never wanted me more." He joked, and she might have smiled if his voice wasn't so feeble. She swallowed and slowly stepped towards him.

"How are you feeling?" She asked in a quiet voice, running her fingers on top of the sheet where she assumed his arm lay underneath.

"Been better. Pomfrey says I'll have to stay for a week at least to heal properly." He said, letting his eyes close again, showing how exhausted he was. She nodded not trusting her voice and gently caressed his cheek with her thumb. She leant down and kissed his forehead seeing him smile faintly before drifting off to sleep. A part of her wanted to lift up the sheet and survey the damage that had been done but the moral part of her won over. She bit her lip and looked at him for another moment, letting the reality sink in before leaving him. She noticed Ron was now back to his normal state and was talking anxiously to Madam Pomfrey about George's condition.

Hermione gave him a wave as she headed towards the exit which he reciprocated, and she made her way back to the common room with a heavy heart. She walked through the portrait hole numbly and wasn't surprised that the common room was still full of students. Harry, Fred and Ginny pushed their way through the crowd explaining that they were forbidden to leave and questioned her about George's condition.

"He'll be all right. He'll be in the hospital for another week minimum. That's all I know." She said sighing, refusing to look at Harry and Fred. Fred let out a huge sigh of relief and Ginny visibly calmed down.

"I'm going to see him, Gin you coming?" Fred said, knowing he wouldn't be able to get through the night if he didn't see George in an okay state. Ginny nodded and followed him out, leaving Harry and Hermione in an awkward silence. She looked at him and caught sight of the book on an armchair behind him. She instantly felt her blood boil at the sight of it, feeling a little nauseated and gave Harry a cold look.

"Will you get rid of that damned book now?" She snapped, and Harry let the guilt show on his face.

"Hermione, I don't know what to say. I mean I never would have thought - I'm so sorry. I know, it's all my fault." He said ashamed with himself. He picked up the book and threw it on the fire before he could think twice about his decision and watched it burn. She looked at Harry and saw the regret in his eyes. She knew she wasn't ready to forgive him yet for his foolish act of using the book and becoming obsessed with it.

It was a start however and it was that thought which lead her to walk over to him, giving him her thanks. Her eyes stared at the flames licking at the pages of the book until it had turned into ash. She was unaware of the tear cascading down her cheek. It was only when Harry brushed it away with his sleeve she realised it was there. They looked at eachother and he somehow knew she wasn't going to forgive him instantly through the gaze they shared. With a small reassuring smile he let her know he would wait for her forgiveness, knowing in the end it would be worth it. She returned the smile and let her head fall on his shoulder, losing herself in the thoughts that George could have died that night out of his own foolishness.

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><p><strong>A:N Harry Potter Wiki sure was helpful in this chapter for all the healing spells :P**

**Also am I the only one who loves protective Ron? That's just a trait in him I've always admired. **

**Once again, thanks for all the feedback! And thanks to Sarden, KING, Marina, Sandrinha and LittleRed22. **

**I'm really looking forward to posting the next chapter since it's one of my personal favourites! I don't want to say too much but what I will say is there's a lot of R/Hr in it xD**

**Anyway, thanks for reading! *throws chocolate at all you amazing people*  
><strong>

**For any questions; ****glowinglunatic[]tumblr[]com**

**Copy, paste, take out the brackets.**


	11. Chapter 11

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=i9LOFXwPwC4 **

**Copy, paste and replace the closed brackets with fullstops. Oh yes, you are getting another chapter with a song by the greatest band in the entire world, twice in a row!**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 11

A Possibility?

"_You could be my unintended_

_Choice to live my life extended_

_You could be the one I'll always love_

_You could be the one who listens_

_To my deepest inquisitions_

_You could be the one I'll always love."_

_Unintended – Muse_

Hermione was sat at the end of George's bed in the hospital wing. It had been a little over a week since he was cursed and he was virtually back to normal. But, Madam Pomfrey had still insisted that he stay an extra day just in case. After being given plenty of healing potions and being put on permanent bed rest, he had recovered better than anyone could have hoped.

"Seriously, how irresistible am I?" George said, and Hermione glanced up at him from her book. He had lifted up his shirt and was showing off the new pink scars that were carved into his chest and stomach. The scars had shockingly smooth outlines to have been made from a spell and if anyone else had seen them, they would have assumed it had been the work of a knife. He ran his finger down a particularly long one that went from his collar bone to his belly button, causing her to grimace.

"Don't George." She replied in a pained tone. The only thing seeing that scar did to her was remind her of how he got it and she had to push down the feeling of nausea it caused.

"I thought they made me seem more valiant." He stated, and dropped his shirt down. "You told me Parkinson's been all over Malfoy since he got battered."

When Hermione had seen Ron in the Hospital Wing the same night as George had been cursed, she knew he had been beaten up by Malfoy. What she wasn't aware of was Ron had fought back and managed to get a few punches of his own. While Draco wasn't nearly as hurt as Ron, he still had a black eye with a bruised nose. This led to Pansy feeling the need to nurture and soothe him in as many ways possible, despite him no longer suffering after going to the Hospital Wing. Apparently George was disappointed Hermione wasn't doing the same to him considering he had been in a far worse state.

"Maybe you should get yourself a girlfriend with the intelligence of a troll then." She retorted, turning her attention back to her book. Once she had gotten over the initial sadness of what could have happened to George, she stated she wasn't going to indulge him in any kissing until he was back in lessons as a punishment for his idiocy.

"No thanks. I do rather like having conversations that don't bore me to death." He answered with a smile, hoping to get her attention on him.

"Too soon to joke about that George." She snapped, turning the page of her book. Seeing her gaze was still fixated on the book, he checked Madam Pomfrey was nowhere in sight before he moved out from under the covers of his bed. He crawled over to Hermione and wrapped his arms around her from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder. "What exactly does this kissing ban entail?"

"Any form of kissing, that includes snogging and giving love bites." She stated, never taking her eyes off the sentence she was reading.

"Okay, but does that only involve you kissing me?" He asked, with a mischievous smile. She closed her book and turned her head so she could see him. She saw his expression and was about to say that didn't mean he could kiss her either, when he adjusted her top so he could kiss the bare skin on her shoulder. She rolled her eyes and promptly pushed his head up.

"Don't take me for an idiot. I know exactly what you're doing George." She said sighing.

"Fine, so there's no kissing whatsoever." He said in feigned defeat. She was suddenly very conscious of the fact his arms were still wrapped around her and his hands (that had been on her stomach) were slowly venturing upwards. Her hands instinctively went to his and yanked them back down to a more appropriate level.

"You're clearly not taking me seriously so I'm going to leave." She snapped, and forced his arms off her abruptly standing up.

"Come on, I was kidding Hermione." He said, watching her pick up her bag and force her book inside it.

"I don't care. You still disrespected what I asked of you." She retorted, and put the strap of her bag on her shoulder.

"Technically, I didn't. You only said there was a ban on kissing, not me giving you a bit of fun." He said suggestively, and she rolled her eyes at him.

"How romantic of you." She replied sarcastically, and promptly stalked out the Hospital Wing.

She chewed her bottom lip nervously, lost in her thoughts as she made her way to the library. She wasn't worrying about whether she was being too harsh on George. In her mind, he deserved his suffering and thought it would put some sense into him.

What did concern her, was that she wasn't suffering from it. She expected to feel something out of the time they hadn't spent with eachother over the past week, but she was happy. She had been with Harry a lot more, which was what she had promised herself she would do. She had managed to spend some time with Ginny by herself, something she hadn't realised she'd missed. She'd even spent some time with Ron outside their tutoring sessions and patrols.

One day, he had somehow managed to convince her to go down to the lake with him, rather than go to the library in her free period after Potions. She remembered she had agreed on the condition that they did some studying once they were down by the lake. She smiled to herself, thinking how she hadn't managed to do much more than ten minutes studying. They had ended up spending the hour talking and joking around with one another. She fondly recalled a particular conversation they had where she shared the story about the Mirror of Erised.

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><p>"Wicked. What did you see when you looked in it then?" Ron had asked, as they strolled along the grounds casually. It had been a particularly cold day so they were both wearing thick jumpers with hats, gloves and scarves. However, Hermione had been surprised to find out it wasn't nearly as cold as everyone made it out to be and was carrying her hat and scarf.<p>

"I didn't actually see it myself. Harry only told me about it." She explained, as a strong gust of wind came out of nowhere, making her hair whip across her face. She spluttered, since some of it went in her mouth, and heard Ron chuckle at her. She stopped walking and tried to detangle it, but all she succeeded in doing was tangling it even more in the increasing wind. It was now impossible for her to see anything except the brown frizz that was her hair and she made a noise of frustration. She heard Ron laugh even harder, only adding to her growing irritation.

"You could help!" She suggested, when her fingers could barely make it through her thick hair. She tried forcing it apart impatiently, and that resulted in a severe amount of pain. She heard him walk closer to her but he still wasn't doing anything.

"Ron, don't just stand there." She said irritably, and felt his rough fingers shakily attempt to detangle her hair. She was mildly surprised at how gentle he was being with her. The wind settled down to a soft breeze again, and it only took a few seconds before she saw his fingers part her hair like a curtain. She expected to see him smiling at her but instead his entire face was flushed. He awkwardly started tucking her hair behind her ears and she swallowed, unsure why she suddenly got a tingling sensation from her ear where his rough skin rubbed against it. The sensation continued to spread throughout her body, before it began again from the other ear where he repeated the motion. She looked down and bit her bottom lip when his fingers glided across the sensitive skin behind her ear and neck. Shivers crept up her spine, and she felt a flood of warmth fill her stomach.

She wasn't sure why her body was reacting so strongly to his simple movements and it confused her. She was very aware of him now. The way he was only a few inches away from her. The way his ears seemed to be permanently pink around her. The way she could smell something that could only be described as him.

She realised that he no longer was tucking her hair behind her ears, but was smoothing the rest of it down. She hesitantly tilted her head up so she could look into his eyes, where they darted towards hers. She immediately looked away and a faint blush rose in her cheeks as he immediately took a step back as if he was suddenly aware of how he had literally been running his fingers through her hair. He scratched the back of his head and willed for his ears not to turn red. They did anyway and he let his arm fall to his side.

They began walking again, refusing to look at the other and he cleared his throat.

"So what do you think you would see in the mirror then?" He asked, vaguely remembering the conversation they had been having. She placed her hat back on and it took her a minute to work out what he meant. When the conversation came back to her, she thought about what would make her the happiest she could ever be.

"I don't know really. I suppose I'd see my future self happy, in a world after Harry defeats Voldemort." She answered truthfully. She longed for a time where there wouldn't be that constant need to worry about her life. She knew that would never truly exist, even if Harry managed to defeat Voldemort, there would undoubtedly be remaining Deatheaters seeking revenge. She could still hope for that world though. "What about you? What do you think you'd see?"

He glanced over at her and saw her arms wrap around her middle as the wind picked up again. It gently blew a few strands over her eyes and she gracefully ran the tip of her finger over her forehead. She then ran it down her cheek to her neck, where she pushed the rest of her hair behind her. He took in the details about her in that moment. The way the tips of her fingers seemed permanently stained with ink. The way she always seemed to chew her bottom lip whenever in deep thought. The way her cheeks were now red from the cold wind.

He looked away and figured he'd best stop his staring and give her an answer.

"Don't know. Probably Quidditch captain of the Chudley Canons." He said off the top of his head, secretly knowing that wouldn't be what he saw. She laughed, making him grin and he briefly wondered if George made her laugh like that.

"Now, how did I know it would have something to do with Quidditch?" She teased, looking at him and he grinned even more.

* * *

><p>Hermione pulled herself back to reality and walked into the library where she was meeting Ron for a tutoring session. She made her way over to the table they usually worked at and nearly jumped out of her skin at the sight of him, already sat there with his back facing her. He appeared to be writing something with his back leant over the desk and his head ducked down.<p>

"Do my eyes deceive me? Are you actually on time for once in your life?" She asked, as she walked over to the other side of the desk. He looked up and gave her a lopsided smile, straightening up.

"Well, I didn't have enough time to go flying after Snape's detention." He answered, and she rolled her eyes, suspecting that would be the reason. She placed her bag on top of the table and started getting out the necessary items they'd need.

"I should have known. How was it by the way?" She questioned, and sat down. She pulled out some parchment and saw out the corner of her eye, he was holding up his hands that were incredibly shiny. She laughed lightly and he placed them back down, inspecting them.

"Who knew polishing cauldrons could result in no longer being able to hold a quill?" He commented, as he attempted to grip his quill again, for it to slide out of his hand.

"Sounds to me like you got off easy for what you did to Malfoy." She said, and he shrugged his shoulders. He started rubbing his hands on his trousers in an attempt to get some of the polish off.

"He still got away with what he did to me though." Ron said angrily, and she couldn't say she was surprised that Snape would let Draco off. "Bloody git."

"Who?" She asked, placing her bag on the ground.

"Both of them. Can't decide who's worse." He spat, and quickly found his temper rising. "If I had to choose, I'd say Malfoy. I've had to put up with crap from him all my life. Doesn't help I've lived with the prat for six years either. Wanker."

"Ron-" Hermione started, about to reprimand him for his language when he continued.

"You thought I was in a bad state last week? You should have seen me in my first year when I first got sorted into that house. Was in the hospital wing so much people thought I'd been taken out of school. Really shows how much people care, when they can't be bothered to walk a few feet to see where I actually was."

Hermione's gaze softened as she looked into his eyes, which were full of hatred. She felt her heart constrict with this new knowledge about his life and was startled by the physical pain it was causing her. A wave of guilt fell upon her, remembering she how she had once been trying to force these answers out of him. She briefly wondered how she could be so cruel.

"Third year was bloody brilliant too." He said sarcastically, and she focused her eyes on him as he looked at anything except her. "First time in three years anyone pays attention to me, and it's only because I had a near death experience. Shocking how popular you become when there's the smallest bit of gossip about you. I wonder how popular I would have become if I had died that night. 'Slytherin Weasley murdered by Sirius Black'. Certainly would be the topic of conversation for a couple of weeks. Until something better came along, like Malfoy caught shagging someone who's not Parkinson. That pretty much happens on a weekly basis anyway."

"Ron," She repeated, in a barely audible voice as she shamefully looked down at the table. She unconsciously wrapped her arms around herself as the pain in her chest increased.

"Maybe I should go off and top myself now. Doubt anyone would care in this place." He snapped bitterly, pulling at the loose thread on the wrist of his shirt.

"Don't you dare say that!" She retorted, using all her strength to make sure she said it in a tone he would hear. She flashed her gaze back to his and gave him a steely look. He looked bewildered; as if he had forgotten she was there and was alarmed to hear the amount of anger there was in her voice. She looked at him outraged.

"I'm serious Ron. Don't ever joke about something like that." She barked, and immediately bit her bottom lip to prevent a cry from escaping. The image of a bloodied Ron with slit wrists appeared in her mind and the mere thought of it made her feel sick. Then another image of him appeared, lying lifeless on the ground with an empty potion bottle in his hand . The thought of seeing his unblinking eyes, holding no emotion what-so-ever made a lump rise in her throat. Images kept on flashing in her mind until they swirled around like a nauseating churn in her stomach. Ron drowning himself, Ron hanging himself, Ron jumping off a cliff, Ron casting the killing curse on himself.

The lump in her throat grew as she unconsciously imagined Ron being in George's place, after being put under the sectumsempra curse. She closed her eyes and made sure her head hung low in case any tears managed to escape.

"I-I wouldn't. I mean I wasn't, I'd never do it. I just...I don't know." He stuttered, feeling overwhelmed by her reaction. He ran a shaky hand through his hair and exhaled slowly. He looked over at her and was reminded of how she appeared to be holding herself together. "I won't lie to you Hermione."

She hesitantly looked up at him again and saw his determined eyes staring into hers.

"I've thought about it a few times." He admitted, and she parted her lips in order to take deeper breaths.

"How could you-" She choked, and he looked ashamed of himself briefly as he interrupted her.

"I never ever planned to go through with it or anything. It's just... I fucking hate my life so much sometimes." He declared, and she found herself for the first time not caring about the language he had used. He needed to get this out in his own way and she was going to let him. "I feel so lonely all the time and I always feel shit. I don't understand why I was ever put in this house. There's no way I want to make friends with those bastards I'm stuck with and it's not as if I haven't tried making friends or anything, but no-one wants too. They all look at me like I'm a freak which, let's face it, I am. A blood traitor in a pure blooded fanatic house? From a well known family who'd never support You Know Who? It doesn't make sense. It's not fair. I don't deserve it, at least I don't think I do. Maybe I do for some reas-"

"Of course you don't." She said softly, and moved her chair so she was closer to him. She reached over and took his hand in hers, fighting the tears back. She ran a thumb over the back of his hand softly and felt him grip her hand tightly. He looked down at their hands and swallowed nervously, unsure whether to continue or not. When she gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, he realised he couldn't stop himself now he had started.

"I'm so confused and depressed about it. I don't want to show it, but I can't help it. I've never known how it felt not to belong somewhere before, now it's like I don't know anything else. When I'm here, I feel like I don't belong. When I'm at home, I don't really feel like I do either. My family must think I betrayed them."

"They don't Ron. Don't think like that, they'd never." She stated strongly, with such a commanding gaze he felt obliged to look at her. He noticed her eyes were full of unshed tears and for the first time it became truly obvious to him, that she cared about him. He'd assumed before when she said she did, she only said it out of sympathy. Seeing her as she was now, he realised how much of a fool he was to question it.

Her words weren't anything special. If somebody else had said them, he wouldn't have believed it for a second. But because it was her who said it, it made all the difference.

He switched his gaze to their hands again and was aware of how hard his heart was hammering against his ribs. It was so loud and strong that it caused the tips of his ears go red, thinking she must be able to hear it. He swallowed and hesitantly entwined their fingers.

"I wouldn't blame them if they did. I'm worthless." He grumbled miserably, knowing no matter what she said, he'd believe those words. What good did he really do to the world? He didn't do anything to help anyone or anything, he just walked around feeling sorry for himself most of the time.

"You're anything but that Ron. You're worth a lot more than you give yourself credit for." She said truthfully, and gazed down at their entwined hands. She stopped stroking the back of his hand and was aware of how her heart beat had picked up. She swallowed down the lump in her throat and her unshed tears vanished.

He shakily started repeating the motion she had been using on her hand. She took a sharp intake of breath, feeling his calloused fingers stroke the back of her palm and her heart sped up even more. It was strangely relaxing and each circular motion he did sent a series of tingles through her.

"Do you really think that?" He asked quietly, with his eyes fixated on their hands still. He couldn't believe she was letting him do this and it took all his concentration to not ruin the moment. There was an incredibly heavy temptation to do something more. She shifted her legs a little and his skin was practically burning from where her knee was brushing against his. He looked down at her knobbly knees and noticed there was a mole on her left one.

"I wouldn't have said it if I didn't." She answered, and tore her gaze off their hands to look into his eyes. She saw they were looking down and wondered what he was looking at when she noticed her skirt had slid up her legs. She used her free hand to move it back so it was covering her up more and straightened out the creases in it.

His eyes shot up when he realised she must have noticed where he was staring and felt his cheeks turn red in embarrassment.

"You must be the only one who thinks that then." He mumbled under his breath. She saw the sad look in his eyes again and knew she had to say something reassuring.

"It won't always be like this. There's only one more year left." She said, and saw him run a hand through his hair. Something, she had noticed, he tended to do whenever he was frustrated.

"Yeah, that makes me feel loads better. Knowing I've still got to put up with another year of this bullshit." He snapped.

"Things could change for you though." She said, trying to keep herself calm.

"Doubt it." He said, and she sighed.

"They did for me. I was like you in my first year, I didn't make the best first impression and consequently I didn't have any friends. It was only when Harry saved me from a troll I got my first friend." She explained, hoping he'd see what she was trying to tell him.

"What? I need to save someone from a troll to get a friend?" Apparently not.

"No, I meant you never know what could happen." She explained, and he thought about her words for a minute. There was some truth to them. For example; he never expected to become friends with her when he found out about her. Then again, he never expected he'd develop feelings for his brother's girlfriend either.

He looked back at their hands, knowing he should remove his hand from hers. It was what he should have done, but he selfishly kept a hold of it. He noticed how little of her hand he could actually see. His hand practically enveloped hers and he let a small smile form across his face.

"Your hand's so tiny." He let out, and she blinked a few times, mildly perplexed by the sudden change of subject. Once what he said had sunk in, she couldn't help the small laugh that escaped her lips. He looked up at her and his smile broadened.

"Yes, I suppose it is. Or maybe your hand is abnormally big." She said with a playful smile, and he feigned a distraught expression. She laughed again and adjusted their hands so they were stretched out with their palms pressed together. His hand was big enough for the tips of his fingers to curl over hers and she felt her skin warm from his touch. If this was any other person she was doing this with, she would have laughed at how childish they were being. This was different though. Her body was reacting so strongly to him. Warmth spread in her stomach and she squirmed slightly, pressing her thighs tightly together.

She glazed her fingers over his palm, tracing out the creases in his skin absentmindedly, unaware of the shivers it sent up his spine. He swallowed and knew he'd have to stop what she was doing. It was causing far too many complicated sensations within him and any second his trousers would become unbearably tight.

"You know, if you do that too much you're going to end up with a polished hand too." He said chuckling, and she stopped. She looked at her palm and saw, true to his word, how shiny her hand was. She smiled and showed him the evidence. He sniggered before they both looked into eachother's eyes.

"Oh! Hi Ron! Hermione." They heard a familiar voice exclaim, and they both simultaneously jumped. They flashed their heads around to see Lavender, in one of her more revealing outfits. While Hermione looked disapprovingly at the sight and looked away, Ron's eyes widened and he stammered at her. She giggled for an unnecessarily long time at this and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Ron, can I talk to you in private?" Lavender said flirtatiously, twirling a piece of her blonde hair around a painted nail. Ron cleared his throat and figured he'd best stop staring at the girl's cleavage and answer, only to have Hermione answer for him.

"Actually Lavender, you can stay. I was just leaving." Hermione said, and moved to the other side of the table to pick up her bag. She hastily started packing everything away and tried not to wonder why she was suddenly so irritated by Lavender's presence.

"W-what about Transfiguration?" He asked, shocked at Hermione's actions. She gave him a brief, fake smile and swung her bag onto her back.

"I think you deserve a break. I'll see you for patrols on Friday." She said, and quickly fled from the library. She looked at her watch and wondered where all her time had gone. She couldn't have been with Ron for nearly two hours, could she? She headed towards the common room and desperately did her best not to think about what Lavender could be doing with Ron. It wouldn't come as any shock to her if Lavender was trying to seduce him. _When she knows what she wants, she always gets it_, Hermione thought depressingly.

Some days she wished she could look like Lavender. She never got attention like she did from other boys. It would be nice to feel wanted like that, rather than to be wanted for tutoring. Hermione stopped her walking the second that thought entered her mind. How could she think that? Did she really just think that she desired Ron to want her? She didn't believe it. It made no sense for her to want him to have those feelings about her. She had a boyfriend after all.

She began walking again with this thought in mind, and found herself walking through the portrait hole sooner than she expected. She was astounded at who she saw on the sofa in front of the fire.

"George?" She said in disbelief, as she made her way over to him. He grinned at her when she stood in front of him as she analysed him. "What are you doing out of the Hospital Wing? Aren't you supposed to be in there until tomorrow?"

He sighed and pulled her down onto his lap. She would have moved if it wasn't for the electricity that was coursing through her from the contact. She swallowed as his hand wound to her lower back, pulling her against him.

"You always seem to forget about how charming I can be dear." He said sounding disappointed, and she shook her head in disbelief. His other hand fell on her knee and she was surprised to feel a jolt shoot through her stomach from it. Why was her skin suddenly so sensitive? She never usually responded so quickly to his touch. "So what have you been up to?"

"Not too much. I just finished tutoring Ron. That was until Lavender decided to show up." She said, trying not to show her confused feelings about it. She chose to pull at a thread on George's pocket and kept her eyes downcast.

"Oh yeah, she had her way with him yet? Never know, they could be going at it now." He commented, and she cringed at the mental image his statement created. She wasn't sure why she felt a sudden weight on her chest with that thought either, but disguised what she was feeling by hitting him on the chest.

"Do you have to be so crude?" She asked, not really looking for an answer.

"Yes, I think I do." He answered, giving her a cheeky grin and she rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, he doesn't like her that way." She stated in a knowledgeable tone, and he frowned.  
>"How do you know?"<p>

"He told me." She said simply, and he nodded slowly.

"Hmm. Maybe he just said that so he can try and have his way with you too." George commented jokily, and her heart stopped beating for a moment. Her eyes doubled in size and she involuntarily clenched George's shirt in her hand. She couldn't believe the conversation had changed to something she had been thinking about, literally a few minutes ago. The irony of it was not amusing in the slightest.

A very strong pulsating began from below her stomach when the mental image of her and Ron formed in her mind. She imagined herself lying back on a bed, naked beneath him as he held himself up above her. He'd gaze over her body in an intense but adoring way and she'd blush at it. He'd run his calloused fingers down her cheek and neck, causing her to shiver in anticipation for what was about to happen. His eyes would be darkened with lust before his lips came crashing down to hers.

"Don't be so ridiculous George!" She snapped, in order to break herself out of her fantasy. George merely chuckled and kissed her forehead. She hoped he didn't notice how flushed she had suddenly become.

"I was only kidding." He replied, and she sighed, wishing for the pulsating to stop. It didn't seem to be going anywhere and if anything, it increased. She gave into what her body wanted and ran a finger up and down George's chest.

"You're out of the hospital wing now. That means the kissing ban's over." She said suggestively, with a coy smile and he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Really?" He said in a similar tone, as he began running his nails up and down the length of her thigh. She shivered and judging by his smug smile, he felt it. She couldn't be bothered to care though and let her lips descend to his and adjusted her position so he wasn't tilting his head to one side. She placed both her hands on his chest just as they heard a high pitched squeal.

She glanced up with hazy eyes and saw Lavender holding her hand upto her mouth.

"So sorry." She said, and rushed towards the staircase. George returned his darkened lustful gaze to Hermione.

"Right, where were we?" He said, sitting up straight expecting a kiss. Instead, she pushed herself away from him furious. She crossed her arms beneath her chest and he blinked several times. "Okay, what just happened?"

"It's nothing- I'd forgotten someone could walk in and see us before. This probably isn't the right place for that." She snapped irritably, and he let his head fall back in disappointment.

"But Herm-"

"I'm going to bed. I'll see you tomorrow." She said in a tone that sounded final. She headed upstairs to the girl's dormitory; all the while wondering, why Lavender's clothes had been skewed, her lipstick smudged and her hair all over the place.

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><p><strong>A:N Hopefully there's been a noticeable change in this chapter on the focus of relationships now :P**

**People are still complaining about the amount of focus there has been on the George/Hermione relationship at this point and all I'm going to say about it is just because we know they have a doomed relationship, that doesn't mean Hermione does. This fic is in her P.O.V and a lot of her time/thoughts are going to be on the relationship she's in. If there was an option on Fanfiction to include another character in the relationship focus then I would, but as it stands there isn't. If it's not your cup of tea then stop reading.**

**Right, thanks for all the reviews anyways! **

**I'm going to return to playin my new Batman game now. Bet you all were dying to know that little nugget of information.**

**Here's le tumblr for the usual reasons:**

**glowinglunatic[]tumblr[]com**

**You all should know what to do by now.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=TR3Vdo5etCQ&ob=av2el **

**Copy, paste and replace the closed brackets with fullstops.**

**Old school song I know but what ya gonna do? :P**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 12

It Hurts

"_I really feel that I'm losing my bestfriend_

_I can't believe this could be the end_

_It looks as though you're letting go_

_And if it's real _

_Well I don't want to know"_

_Don't Speak – No Doubt_

You would have to be an idiot to not realise what day it was at Hogwarts. The Great Hall was in utter chaos with people's shouts of encouragement or torments. Everyone was wearing at least one item of clothing representing their house or the house they were supporting. People were shoving their food down hurriedly, their eagerness to get outside taking over their basic instincts. There were a few people who weren't caught up in the enthusiastic air though. One of these people was Hermione. Yes, it was the first Quidditch match of the season.

Hermione was sat next to George, calmly eating her breakfast and ignoring the commotion around her. Ginny was throwing crumpled up pieces of parchment at Fred, who was batting them away, not caring who he hit. Harry was chuckling at their antics when Seamus came up to him and gave him a slap on their back.

"Good luck Harry. Got the after party all set up, so don't go disappointing us, yeah?" He said grinning, and Harry just gave him a confident smile as a response before Seamus headed over to Dean.

"I don't think it should be you he's worrying about." Ginny said, with her concentration still on Fred. She threw a particularly fast piece of parchment at him and he batted it away lazily, unaware it hit Neville's head. He didn't seem to notice and Ginny quickly 'accioed' it back. "I swear if McLaggen doesn't stop telling me what to do, I'll aim the quaffel at him instead."

"No need Gin. If he tries it on with Hermione again, I bet George will beat a bludger his way." Fred said, and winked at George. Ginny tossed the parchment at Fred and he easily hit it while eating some toast.

"Yeah, and I won't miss the prick this time either." George answered, looking over Hermione's head at Cormac, wondering if he could hear their conversation. Hermione turned her head to give George a reprimanding look as he looked back at her.

"Must you talk about me as if I'm not here?" She said with a playful smile. George simply wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her forehead.

"I do it because I care, sweetie." He said, and she glared at him for the pet name. She was about to retort when Harry intervened.

"All right, we should head out to the changing rooms now." Harry said, putting his position as Quidditch captain to good use. Ginny and Fred finished the last of the breakfasts as George made no move to follow Harry's orders.

"Good luck." Hermione wished, as Harry, Fred and Ginny stood up.

"As if I need it." Fred answered, and Hermione shook her head in disbelief while Ginny punched his arm playfully. They both headed out the Great Hall and Harry made his way over to the other teammates. Hermione turned her attention back to George, wondering why he wasn't leaving.

"You walking out to the changing rooms?" He asked, and she shook her head.

"No, I said I'd walk down with Ron." She replied, hinting there was no chance of him talking her out of it. She went back to finishing her cereal and heard him sigh.

"All right. Kiss for good luck then." He said with a cheeky grin. She rolled her eyes at him and was about to peck his cheek when he caught her lips. He moved his hand to the back of her neck but she knew she had to pull away.

"There. Now, off you go." She said, expecting him to walk away but his hand found hers underneath the table.

"Walk me to the doors?" He asked, and she gave him a suspicious look. She couldn't be bothered to question him, knowing it wouldn't get her anywhere, and took one last gulp of pumpkin juice.

"All right." She answered, thinking she might as well head out to the entrance hall since she was meeting Ron there. She had just managed to pick up her bag before George abruptly stood up and darted them out of the hall.

"George, what are you doing?" She exclaimed breathlessly, when he suddenly stopped them and turned around to face her.

"What do you think?" He said suggestively, and gently pushed her against a wall. She knew the determined mischievous expression on his face far too well and instantly knew what he wanted to do.

"No, stop right there. Anyone could walk past." She said, something he chose to ignore as he moved her hair away from her neck. He immediately dove down and started kissing the sensitive spot behind her ear.

"George." She said in a warning tone, but he forced his lips onto hers fiercely. His body pushed right up against hers and she whimpered in pain, feeling the jagged stone wall dig into her back. He moaned in response, misinterpreting it, and she tore her lips away from his.

"Stop it. This is rather painful you might like to know." She snapped, and he raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't mean our kissing and you know that! I meant the wall is-"

"Shit, sorry." He said instantly, taking a step back bringing her with him. She couldn't help the smile that spread across her face at his concern and wound her arms around his neck.

"It's okay." She replied, and he grinned. He kissed her again as if they hadn't stopped and she flinched when his hand grazed over the sore spot of her back. He either chose to ignore this or simply hadn't noticed and continued. She pulled away as she was reminded of the thought that someone could see them, but his lips refused to leave her skin and he laid a trail of kisses down to her jaw. She couldn't help laughing slightly at his persistence. "What's brought all this on?"

He shrugged his shoulders and she opened her eyes when he kissed the side of her neck. She unwound her arms and was about to step away from his embrace until she saw someone out of the corner of her eye.

She turned her head and gasped out seeing Ron. She could have been wrong but, for a second, he appeared to be in a great deal of pain. She immediately pushed George away from her and when she had blinked, Ron seemed to be incredibly tense. _No doubt out of how awkward he feels_, she thought.

"Oh, all right Ronniekins." George greeted, not the least bit ashamed of how red and swollen his lips were. Hermione awkwardly straightened out her top and when she looked at Ron again, he was refusing to look her way. He glared at George and stormed over to the front doors, clenching his fists.

"Ron?" Hermione asked perplexed, taking a few steps towards him.

"I can go by myself." He snapped acidly, and she halted at his tone. He turned his head back and gave her a look he would usually use for Malfoy. "You're _clearly_ busy."

With that, he furiously pushed open the doors and stalked out moodily. She gazed after him and felt as if she had been stabbed in the chest.

"What's got his wand in a knot?" George asked, coming into her line of sight and she was clueless as to how she should respond. He brushed it off and glanced at his watch. "Better get going. You coming to the changing rooms since he's pissed off somewhere?"

She nodded, having no idea what she agreed too, and let him hold her hand as they made their way down the grounds. She looked around, hoping to see a flash of red hair anywhere and saw in the distance Ron was heading in the opposite direction of the Quidditch pitch. She looked straight ahead again and swallowed.

She couldn't get the look he gave her out of her head. Needless to say, it was completely unexpected and she never thought she would be on the receiving end of it. The look was so full of hatred and contempt it made her want to cry. He looked like he hadn't cared about her in the slightest and wouldn't have given a damn if she had dropped dead right then and there.

She wracked her brain for a reason why he could be so furious at her, but couldn't think of anything. It had been over a week since he let out how upset he was about his being in Slytherin. They'd spoken a few times after that where he was perfectly normal with her, so that couldn't be the reason. She couldn't understand any of it and hated the perplexed feeling she got from not knowing something. She suspected it felt worse than usual, considering it was to do with someone close to her.

She wondered briefly why she wasn't angrier at him for it. It would have been perfectly justifiable, since he was acting so randomly towards her. It probably made more sense for her to be angry at him then than a lot of the other occasions she had been. For once in her life though, she wasn't angry, despite how she had every right to be. She was simply hurt and confused.

She told herself to try and forget about it, to not analyse the situation completely. But she tried to anyway, ignoring how she didn't end up any closer to a conclusion than when she had begun. There must have been a logical explanation for it. No-one suddenly hates another person for no valid reason. She hadn't thought of it yet and that was all there was to it.

She ran every bickering they ever had through her head, unsure if she had unintentionally hurt him. When she couldn't think of anything that way, she wondered if he was mad at her for being beaten up by Malfoy. Could Draco have threatened to do it again if Ron was seen with her? She immediately pushed that thought out of her mind. She knew Ron and how loyal he was. He wouldn't care about a threat like that and would carry on being friends with her.

A sudden bellow of noise jolted her out of her thoughts and she blinked several times, not believing where she was. She was in the Quidditch stands with the other Gryffindors. She looked around and saw the match was in full swing. She glanced around the crowd and judged by the disappointed expressions that Slytherin had just scored. She squinted at the pitch and saw all the Gryffindor players looking furiously at Cormac. Ginny had flown over to him and was shouting at him. He was shouting back and Harry flew over to the pair of them, looking exhausted. Hermione furrowed her eyebrows and was about to ask somebody what had happened, when she heard the commentator, Zacharis Smith, shout,

"It looks like Cormac McLaggen's attempt to tell Ginny Weasley how to throw a quaffel cost him from saving a goal. Ten more points to Slytherin! Slytherin stay in the lead with eighty to sixty!"

Hermione sighed. How could she have dazed through so much? She sat up straight, determined to focus all her attention on the game. The next thing she knew, a bludger was hurtling towards Fred and he hit it straight at Cormac. It met the target and hit Cormac's shoulder. There was an uproar of cheers from the Gryffindor supporters while Madam Hooch blew her whistle.

"A foul to Slytherin!" She declared, which Fred shrugged off. He and George flew towards Dean, who then flew over to the rings to act as keeper. It didn't seem to be needed though, because everyone's attention was now on Harry and Harper, Draco's substitute. They were both shooting towards the side of the pitch, with Harry lagging behind by a margin.

Hermione held her breath and tried not to think of how one small movement could kill Harry. Him and Harper made a quick diversion upwards and it looked as if Harper was about to catch the snitch. That was until Harry shouted something at him, causing Harper to do a double take. Harry used the opportunity to speed up and caught the fluttering ball of gold.

"And Potter's caught the snitch." Smith grumbled, as the stadium erupted into applause. Hermione let out a squeal of her own and started clapping her hands enthusiastically. The team swarmed around Harry as he landed and threw their arms around him as Ginny bolted towards the commentator's stadium. She crashed into it and the Gryffindor team burst out into laughter. Harry managed to break free from the hug and ran towards Ginny.

Hermione couldn't believe what she saw next. Harry had taken Ginny's face in his hands and kissed her. If anything, this only added to the cheering and Hermione was no exception. She leapt to her feet and forced her way through the crowd to the steps. She hurried down them and was surprised to see George there. She couldn't help grinning at the look of enthusiasm on his face and wrapped her arms around him. He picked her up off her feet so he was carrying her and made his way back onto the pitch.

"George! Put me down!" She snapped, hitting his shoulder but he only laughed. She feigned a glare at him, knowing it was pointless to try and escape from him. She glanced over at Harry and Ginny, who were still passionately snogging. She couldn't help smiling but Fred felt the need to ruin it.

"Oi Potter! Give it a rest! I'd rather be drunk if I have to see that all evening."

"I second that!" George shouted, and Hermione opened her mouth to retort, when he placed a finger to her lips. "You know I'm of age and the rules only say underage drinking is not permitted."

"No, it says no drinking what-so-ever." She answered back, and he shrugged his shoulders, dropping her to the ground carelessly. She placed her hands on her hips and Harry finally broke apart from Ginny. "George, you know I don't like it when you drink."

"Why's it matter? You're not going to be there anyway. You have patrols tonight." He replied, and her eyes widened, having forgotten that detail about her evening. She could sense how awkward it was going to be with Ron's sudden hatred towards her and sighed. She wasn't even surprised when she wished she wasn't a prefect.

"Come on, I bet Seamus is going to have a heart attack if we don't get up to the common room soon." Ginny said, slipping her hand into Harry's.

They all headed up to the common room and weren't surprised to find the party had started without them. Harry, Fred, George and Ginny were pulled into the crowd and were demanded to tell the room every detail about the match. Hermione, having gotten used to this over the years, made her way over to an empty chair in the corner of the room and pulled out the book she was currently reading. Despite how compelling the book was, she couldn't get into it. She read the words but none of them sunk in.

Her mind had drifted back to her confused thoughts about Ron again and she briefly wondered why she was fretting about it so much. For all she knew, he had been having a bad day and he'd accidentally taken it out on her.

She didn't spend long dwelling on this when she saw George making his way over to her, with two drinks in his hands. He handed one to her and she took a sip, only to spit it out instantly.

"That's firewhiskey!" She snapped, and he swallowed down his drink. He took it off her and smiled.

"You really are the smartest witch in this school. You don't like it?" He said, and before she could do anything to stop him, he had swallowed her drink too.

She let out a noise of frustration and stormed over to the portrait hole. He followed after her and she looked at the time to see she had to meet up with Ron for their patrols. She walked over to the end of the corridor where they had agreed to meet and leant against the wall. She was surprised by the pain it caused her back and quickly stood up straight again. How could she be in so much pain? George hadn't pushed her that hard into the wall.

"A few drinks is hardly going to harm anyone." George said, now in front of her. He saw how frustrated she was and figured that was the reason for it.

"Yes, but if Professor McGonogall finds out there was underage drinking, I'll get the blame for it. That could jeopardise everything I've worked towards. You know how I feel about this George and you did it anyway!" She snapped, and saw him roll his eyes. She sighed angrily, seeing how little respect he showed towards something she cared about. With this thought she couldn't hold back her next comment, "You promised me things would change!"

"When did I promise that?" He asked, with furrowed eyebrows and she gritted her teeth.

"At the Burrow! You promised me you would do more things for me and be a better boyfriend! But you haven't!" She barked, and saw his eyes widen. He'd clearly forgotten that promise he made her and she found her temper increase even more.

"I've tried." He said, sounding as if he didn't even believe himself. She couldn't believe that she just heard him blatantly lie.

"I'm sorry, of course you have! You've accused Harry of having feelings for me and whenever you're with me, it's obvious you only want to kiss me! I can't even remember the last time we had a proper conversation." She snapped, crossing her arms beneath her chest. Truthfully, she hadn't given any of this much thought recently but it all hit her in one go. He had broken the promise he made her and she pondered whether or not he had ever planned on keeping it.

"It works both ways. You insisted on spending more time with Harry and whenever we're together all you do is work. When you're not working, it's obvious you're really somewhere else." He admitted calmly, showing how he had thought about it more than her. She knew there was some truth behind his words but she didn't care.

"In case you've forgotten, I am trying to help Harry work out a way to defeat Voldemort." She spoke sharply, wondering why he couldn't figure that out for himself.

"You don't have to spend all your time worrying about it." He brushed off casually, and she gave him a look of disbelief.

"I think the fate of the wizarding world is rather important. If that has to cut into my time with you, then so be it." She flared, and instantly regretted her words. She knew he would take it the wrong way.

"Nice to know how important I am to you." He said sniggering. She was aware behind the sniggering, her comment had hurt him and she ran a hand through her hair frustratingly. If he was going to be that way, then she could easily respond.

"As if you treat me any better. It seems like all you want is to try and get me into bed. Or anywhere! You're clearly not fussy about it." She grumbled, refusing to look at him as her cheeks flamed.

"Can't blame a guy for trying." He joked, and she stamped her foot.

"Do you have to act as if everything's a joke?" She shouted, and his eyes widened. It dawned on him how furious she was with him, and that this wasn't a small bickering like he thought it was.

She pushed past him and walked down a corridor, not caring which one it was as long as she could get away from him. She heard him chasing after her and it wasn't long till he caught up with her. He wheeled her around and she saw a young Ravenclaw pass them awkwardly.

"Let's talk about this somewhere in private." He muttered, and glanced around to see where the nearest classroom was. She rolled her eyes at the irony of George Weasley wanting to be discrete about something. She should have known when it came to him being embarrassed; that would be the only thing he'd want to be discrete with. He was easily embarrassed when he showed his feelings, and that usually happened in arguments.

He gripped her arm and opened the door to an empty classroom.

"Let go of me George!" She snapped, as he strode inside. "I'm not some kind of a doll you can drag around!"

He abruptly let go of her as he stared at something in front of him. She walked around to his side to see what had his attention and her eyes went wide, as she took in the sight before her. In front of them, was a couple locked in a passionate embrace. She was sat up on a desk with her leg curled around his and her hands were in his hair. He was leant over her slightly and one of his hands was propping him on the desk, while the other was high up her thigh. This wouldn't have been such an odd situation, if it wasn't for the fact the couple was Ron and Lavender.

Hermione couldn't believe what she was seeing. Or rather, she didn't want to believe what she was seeing. She sucked in a cold breath and her heart constricted. It felt as if someone had reached inside her chest and was squeezing her heart as tight as humanly possible. She stood there, open mouthed and looked at Ron with a confused expression. He looked back at her showing no emotion.

"Shit. I didn't know you had it in you, Ron." George exclaimed proudly, causing Lavender to let out a giggle. Ron grinned smugly, shifting his gaze to George and that was what did it for Hermione. She ignored the ache in her chest and took a few steps forward, placing her hands on her hips.

"What do you think you're doing?" She snapped, quickly stopping Lavender's giggles. Ron furrowed his eyebrows at her straightening up, and Lavender reluctantly let go of him.

"Is it not obvious?" Ron answered in disbelief, putting his hands in his pockets. Lavender started sorting out her clothing as George looked between Ron and Hermione bemused.

"Don't patronise me!" She barked, and the smile dropped off Ron's face. "You were supposed to meet me for our patrols!"

He let out a laugh and ran a hand through his hair. "That's what this is about? Merlin, so I'm a bit late, big deal."

"A bit? Half an hour is hardly a short amount of time! And it's not as if you have a good reason!" She snapped furiously. She hoped she was doing a good job of disguising how she was really feeling with her angry disposition. She assumed she was since Ron was glaring daggers at her and wasn't looking the least bit guilty about it. He looked as if he was going to retort, when George took a few steps towards her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Come on Hermione. You're angry at me, not him - so let's find somewhere else to talk." George said, and she pushed his hand away, glaring at him coldly.

"Now you're serious! I can't believe you! And who are you to say who I am angry with? I have every right to be angry with Ronald!" She snapped, causing George to sigh frustratingly. If her and Ron continued arguing, George had a feeling they wouldn't be leaving the room as friends.

"How?" Ron asked outraged, with his temper rising. Lavender started twirling her hair around her finger, clearly bored and was hoping to get Ron's attention. Her small action didn't seem to be doing anything since his focus was still on Hermione.

"You're a prefect! You're supposed to be setting an example!" Hermione shrieked, her glare now aimed at Ron. He took a large step towards her, looking livid.

"You're one to talk you bloody hypocrite!" He snapped back, and she was reminded of that morning and how he caught her and George snogging. Her glare intensified as Lavender looked at Ron longingly.

"Ron." She whined, but he either ignored her or hadn't heard her.

"How dare you? That was nothing compared to this!" Hermione shouted, holding back from shouting at Lavender too. It was almost shocking how she expected everything to revolve around her.

"Seems pretty similar to me!" Ron barked back. Hermione couldn't prevent her cheeks from flushing as she was reminded how right Ron was. If he had seen her and George a few seconds earlier than he had, there was no way she would be denying his accusation. She despised how truthful his words actually were and had the urge to shout at George because of it.

However, she refused to let Ron know that.

"It's not! And stop changing the subject! You were late because you-" _Had your tongue stuck down some tart's throat,_ was what Hermione wanted to say. She found it surprisingly hard to say the word's out loud. It was as if saying it out loud would make it real. She could attempt to convince herself that her and George had simply walked in upon them in an awkward position, if she didn't say the words. It was ridiculously naive of her to hope for that, but it somehow helped the ache in her chest.

She knew she shouldn't dwell on the thought of Ron and Lavender kissing. She didn't think she would ever live down bursting into hysterical sobs in front of them over it. It was for that reason, she quickly changed tactics, "Well, that's not the point. The point is, you know you're in the wrong here! You don't want to admit it and that's all there is to it!"

She couldn't stand how pathetic and weak she sounded, but she couldn't think of anything better to say. She judged by Ron's snorting at the comment, he thought that too.

"Oh yes, Ron was late for a patrol we must alert Dumbledore at once!" He exclaimed mimicking her voice, and Lavender laughed at his impersonation. Hermione felt a lump rise in her throat from his joke, but tried to hide it by giving him a cold look. This didn't fool everyone though.

"You're pushing it Ron." George said warningly, sensing how hurt Hermione was. That was all she needed to hear for her to easily swallow the lump back down. She whipped herself around and gave him an outraged look.

"I don't need you fighting my battles for me George!" She snapped, and he chuckled. She couldn't believe his response. Did he not know anything about her?

"It's hardly a battle Hermione." He commented light heartedly, and she felt rage course through her like lightning. Her next words erupted out of her before she even had a chance to think of them.

"Just piss off George!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. Instantly, everyone's eyes widened at her language. After a few moments, George burst out laughing and Lavender placed her hand over her mouth to hide her giggling. Ron remained exactly how he was, knowing if he reacted like George, he would be asking for a death wish. He wouldn't put it past her considering the state she was in. Her hair was standing on end as if electricity was crackling through it and her eyes were huge with a ferocious animosity. She was the perfect example of a stereotypical witch.

"Did you actually just-" George started still laughing, and she stared icily at him.

"I meant it!" She screamed, and George stopped his laughter at once. "You can defend me all you like when you treat me like a girlfriend! Not when you think of me as some kind of a tart you can just have your way with!"

By this point, she was beyond caring that Ron and Lavender were witnesses. Lavender looked at them mildly amused and walked over to Ron. She slipped her hand into his and gave it a light tug as she took a step towards the door. He made no attempt to move and it appeared he hadn't even noticed Lavender had moved. He gritted his teeth while clenching his fists and he glowered at George menacingly. Lavender noticed this and frowned, but stayed quiet.

Hermione however, was anything but quiet. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so pent up with aggression and it was bursting out of her. She continued shouting, "Clearly you're not going to treat me decently in the next few minutes so piss off!"

George sighed angrily and was unaware of Ron's hostility towards him.

"I was joking about that." He answered eventually, and she refused to believe he was as dim-witted as he was making himself out to be.

"Stop using that as an excuse for everything you do! Just...go away!" She said shrilly, and turned her back on him hotly.

"Ugh, fine! Fine!" He shouted, losing the last of his patience. "I can't be bothered with your crap now anyway!"

Hermione looked at the ground guiltily hearing his words, and she crossed her arms beneath her chest. She bit her bottom lip to prevent her from saying something else she was going to regret and heard the door slam. She looked behind her hesitantly to check he had actually left and noticing he had, she let out a sigh. She swallowed and took a few breaths, feeling her heart practically crash against her ribs from the intensity of her shouting. She refused to let herself analyse the situation just yet and once she collected herself, she turned towards Ron again.

"And you're not much better! What was your problem this morning?" She snapped at him, and his ears went red.

"I-I..." He stammered, surprised she had recovered from George's comment so quickly. He cleared his throat as a delay for his response, having no idea how to answer her. He couldn't exactly reveal the true reason to her, given the circumstances. Especially when the girl he had spent the past hour snogging was clinging to his side like her life depended on it. He eventually answered, "I didn't want to be an audience for your snogging, is that a crime?"

He could see by her expression that she didn't believe him for a second. He regretted his words seeing her eyes blaze furiously at him.

"You know that's rubbish! The way you acted, anyone would have thought I betrayed you! I did nothing to deserve it!" She snapped, feeling her blood boil and Lavender looked between the two of them perplexed. Her head was beginning to hurt from the amount of questions she had about the situation and was determined to get the answers out of Ron. The moment Hermione was out the room that was. It was virtually impossible to get a word in between the two and she doubted either of them would notice.

"You were all over eachother. What did you expect? I wasn't going to stick around to see that." Ron snapped, not caring how pitiful his excuse was. He couldn't think of a better excuse so he was left with no option. The image of what he had seen them doing that morning re-appeared in his mind. George was kissing Hermione's neck and she had a blissful expression on her features as he did it. Before Ron could stop himself, he blurted out, "It's no wonder George thinks of you as a tart, if you act like that all the time in public."

Hermione felt her heart constrict again. She opened her mouth to retort but it was impossible. His words were sinking into her memory and she didn't want to believe she heard them fall out of his mouth.

She knew there were so many things she could have said in that minute back to him. The easiest being, she could have said the girl he was with was more of a tart than her. But then, Lavender hadn't _really_ done anything to deserve that.

Hermione thought of a thousand decent come backs to say, but she couldn't get the words out. She could have slapped him for it. She doubted anyone would disagree with the decision. Not that she would have cared anyway but, she couldn't do that either.

She didn't want to admit how much he hurt her to herself, let alone him. That was the last comment she could take though. She didn't want to think about the amount of times she nearly cried that day, and she knew she couldn't prevent it from happening anymore. She felt her eyes fill with tears and she looked down, in an attempt to hide it. She took a breath and tried to build up enough strength to sound confident with her next comment. She lifted her head back up and looked him in the eye, trying to show how unaffected she was by his statement.

"You arse." She uttered. Despite her hopes, her insult didn't sound nearly as strong as she wanted. It came out in such a small, weak tone, it was impossible to ignore how it made her feel.

Ron saw how broken she was and wanted to say he regretted the words the moment he said them. He knew they weren't true and he could hardly believe he had said it himself. His gaze softened and he opened his mouth to take back his comment.

But she couldn't stand looking at him for another second, knowing she would burst out into tears if she did. She rushed out of the room and ran. The tears began to fall and she unconsciously placed a hand over her mouth too quieten her sobs. The last thing she wanted was to give him the satisfaction of knowing how much he hurt her. She didn't dwell on why his comment hurt her, as she was forced to slow her running to a walk. Her heart was beating so fast that she was beginning to feel lightheaded. And the last thing she needed was a physical reason for her pain, if she were too faint from it.

She didn't care about the hot tears cascading down her cheeks as she shakily wiped at her dripping nose. She sniffed and pulled her robes tighter around her. Every breath she took felt like ice spreading through her veins and she shivered, glad to see the Fat Lady portrait in sight. Her heart rate had dropped to a normal level so she hurried over to it. She had just managed to splutter the password to the portrait when she heard a level of noise that only a full common room could produce. She wiped away at her cheeks furiously as the portrait opened and she raced inside.

She never thought she'd be thankful for the after Quidditch party, but she was. No-one noticed her distraught state as she pushed her way through the crowd, to get to the stairs leading to the girl's dormitory. She willed herself to stop crying for a moment so she could remain more inconspicuous, but she was powerless to stop it. It seemed as if fate wasn't on her side since her eyes locked with Harry's for a second. She mentally groaned when he started making his way towards her and she attempted to speed up even more. Until she felt his hand on her arm and he appeared in front of her.

"Hermione, what's going on? Are you all right? I don't think I've ever seen you like this." Harry said concerned, only causing more tears to pour down her cheeks.

"I-it doesn't matter Harry. I really just want to be alone right now." She croaked, and sniffed. He looked unsurely at her but wasn't sure what to do. He rarely saw her upset and she had never been this hysterical before. He awkwardly ran his hand up and down her arm which only increased the tears.

"Hermione?" She heard Ginny say in disbelief, and Hermione looked to her side to see her. She instantly gave her a look of pity that Hermione couldn't stand and she swallowed. She wiped away at her cheeks and gave them a watery smile.

"I'll be fine. I'm just going to the dormitories for an early night." She said in the same croaky tone. She hurried away from the pair before they could answer and cleared her throat, in an attempt to get rid of her odd tone of voice.

A wash of relief spread through her when the stairs came into sight and she really thought she would be able to get up to the dormitories in peace. She should have known she shouldn't be so lucky. When her foot landed on the first step, a hand clutched onto hers and promptly pulled her down again. She knew who it was before she looked at him and she instinctively ripped her hand out of his. She did her best to give George a cold look, but with her crying still, all she got was another pitying expression.

"Don't. I can't be bothered with your crap now." She snapped, repeating his words from earlier. She saw a glimpse of him looking guilty before she had whipped around and ran up to the dormitory.

Once safely inside, she hurried to her bed and pulled the curtains around it. She lay back on her bed and continued sobbing.

She didn't care that she knew these tears weren't over George. She didn't care that these tears weren't over her worry for Harry. However, she did care that she was crying over Ron. She also cared that she really knew she wasn't crying over what he said to her. She knew the reason why she was so upset was completely illogical and unreasonable. She had no right to be feeling this way over it. But she let herself cry, not caring that it made no sense. She knew that whatever she was feeling, made her want to curl into a ball and drown herself in her sorrow. And it felt unbearable. Truthfully, the reason behind her melancholy was because, she'd seen Ron and Lavender together. That was all there was to it.

But for the first time that day, she didn't question why she was feeling so hurt and confused. She simply cried herself to sleep, knowing that it was unlikely tomorrow would be any better.

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><p><strong>A:N So umm yeah. Don't really know what to say for once, this was a necessary evil I'm afraid. I've always believed Ron needed to go through that sort of 'physical' relationship with someone for him to be able to realise that's what he could never settle for and I personally think it applies to him in any sort of universe.**

**Thanks for reviewing everyone! Over 200 now, I can scarcely believe it xD Love you all! Anyway, I'm off to watch repeats of Doctor Who now with a cup of tea, oh how very British of me ;P **

**Tumblr: glowinglunatic[]tumblr[]com**

**You know what to do ;)**


	13. Chapter 13

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter: http:/w***m/watch?v*=mAh-*lH0H3U **

**Copy, paste and take out the stars.**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 13

Bleeding Heart

"_When we collide we come together_

_If we don't we'll always be apart_

_I'll take a bruise_

_I know you're worth it_

_When you hit me_

_Hit me hard."_

_Many of Horror – Biffy Clyro  
><em>

Hermione was walking through the corridors, ignoring the stares that everyone was giving her. It had gotten to the point she was so used to the staring that she didn't even care what the people thought about her. In fact, she was beginning to worry about everyone's education. They clearly thought knowing about her private life was more important than their future. This thought didn't last long when someone she didn't even know, gave her a pitiful look. Stares she could put up with, but someone pitying her? Did she really look that weak? She immediately straightened up and kept her head held high, determined not to show the pain inside of her.

It was inevitable that the news of her and George would spread. She was known throughout the wizarding world and George was a popular guy Hogwarts. It would have been odd if people weren't aware of it. But, with the recent development of Harry's relationship with Ginny, she had assumed that would be more of a priority in the latest gossip.

Maybe there was simply more to talk about with someone's misery. Anyone who had seen her last week would have been an idiot to have not noticed her sorrow. The day after it had all happened, she had woken up late and missed breakfast, which meant she was late for Defence against the Dark Arts. When she couldn't give a decent explanation for her lateness to Snape, he'd taken points away. She could barely keep her head focused on the work with her confused thoughts, which resulted in a detention. The day continued in the same dreadful manner and the first time she looked at herself in a mirror, she could have died from the humiliation. Her eyes had huge dark bags underneath them and were blood shot from the amount of tears she had shed the previous night. Her face was incredibly pale, giving the impression she was ill. And to top it all off, her hair had been greasy yet gained even more bushiness to it.

It was incredibly suspicious that she had missed all the meals that day as well. At lunch, Professor McGonagall had insisted on discussing her lack of enthusiasm in class and then continued to talk about a few prefect duties. Then at dinner, she had been doing her detention for Snape, which was writing a five foot essay on the importance of being on time and paying attention in class, something even she struggled with. When she had returned to the common room and saw George, as happy as ever without her, she couldn't stop the tears from falling. She wound up crying herself to sleep again and could only count herself lucky she hadn't seen Ron that day. That fact only led to more tears.

In the present, she was rather surprised that the first time she saw him after their argument was only yesterday. She assumed he'd been avoiding her. Or he'd simply been too wrapped up in Lavender to notice her. She'd gone down to breakfast and started buttering her toast, until she heard Lavender's high pitched giggle. She knew that laugh well enough to know it was only used in the presence of her most recent boyfriend. Hermione looked towards the sound and saw Lavender sat on Ron's lap. She had her arms around his neck and he had an arm wound around her waist. As if that wasn't enough, he was grinning brilliantly at her.

Hermione wasn't sure why it hurt her, to see him happy. She was well aware that if anyone deserved it, it was him. But seeing him that happy while they weren't speaking was more than she could take. She had left without a second thought, not daring to look back at them.

She pulled herself back to reality, aware that people were still staring. She wondered how different it would be if everyone knew about her fight with Ron as well as the one with George.

She heard the mutterings people had made about her,

"I heard she and George broke up."

"Really? Wasn't it just a fight?"

"Apparently she dumped him."

"I thought her and Harry were together."

"No, they were together behind George's back. She broke up with George so she could be with Harry. But now, he's moved on to that Ginny girl."

"No wonder she's such a mess."

Usually, Hermione would have been annoyed by the ridiculous assumptions people were making about her, but she was actually thankful. The less everyone knew about the complete truth, the better. She wasn't sure if she could stand pitiful glances because she'd lost a close friend.

She was mildly surprised that people didn't know, since Lavender had been in the room at the time. Nothing got past that girl without it being common knowledge around the school within the hour. Hermione didn't dwell on why Lavender hadn't spread the news, but just remained glad she hadn't.

It had been exactly a week since her fight with Ron and George. And things weren't getting any better. Unlike her previous arguments with George, he didn't seem intent on apologising to her. If anything, he seemed furious with her and she couldn't understand it. He seemed completely content without her and she knew whenever he was truly angry at someone, he acted as if nothing was bothering him and would put distance between him and whoever it was he was mad at. Evidently, he was feeling that way towards her and she couldn't understand it. What had she done wrong? He had mentioned he was unhappy with her, but he hadn't explained why. At the time, it mainly seemed like he used it as a retort.

She was beginning to think their once solid relationship was starting to crumble. Since they had become a couple, they had the odd argument which was understandable. Every relationship had them and they were no different. They managed to work through it and continue as if it had never happened. Now, she couldn't remember when they had argued as much as they had been. This was their third very serious argument in the last couple of months. The first, being the one at the Burrow and the second, being over her friendship with Harry. Some couples would have given up on the relationship after the first argument, let alone three.

Instead of thinking positively about it like most people would, she found herself doing the opposite. Clearly their relationship had survived through a lot which showed how strong it was. However, she doubted whether it could take much more. It wasn't just the arguments. It seemed like everything George did infuriated her in some way. She knew she was supposed to love him despite these flaws, but it wasn't just a few flaws. It was everything he did. How he couldn't take anything seriously, his rebelliousness of the school rules, his foolishness, how he always kept his feelings hidden.

It was this thought that stuck with her as she walked in the Great Hall for dinner. She sat across from a blissful Harry and Ginny and gave them a fake smile of her own. They barely acknowledged her presence as they kept stealing glances at eachother. Her fake smile resembled a real one as she saw how happy Harry was. She had been hoping for months he would act on his feelings towards Ginny and he had.

Harry took Ginny's hand in his and the smile on Hermione's face dropped. She couldn't remember the last time George had done that to her, to simply be romantic. She scolded herself for her selfish thought and started placing some food on her plate.

"Hermione, are you ever going to tell me why you're upset?" Harry asked concerned, and she looked up at him. Coincidentally, a large reason for her unhappiness walked in at that precise moment in time and they sat down a few feet away. She hesitantly glanced over at Ron and Lavender. She couldn't even be bothered to reprimand Ron about sitting at his own house table while she looked at their entwined hands. She unconsciously had a flashback of when she had held his hand like that and bit her lip.

He probably sensed her staring and started turning his head in her direction, causing her to promptly look back at Harry. She pushed her plate away, having suddenly lost her appetite and Ginny looked at her attentively.

"It's just this fight with George. I'm worried if things don't get better soon we might break-up." She half-explained, and Harry's eyebrows rose. Ginny's concentrated expression changed to an understanding one and knew not to ask Hermione about it. She needed some time to think and talking it over with someone wasn't what she wanted. Harry wasn't sure how to respond and awkwardly ate some more of his dinner.

Hermione chose not to explain the other reason, knowing it would raise far too many questions and poured out a drink.

"Where were you last night?" An irritable voice snapped beside her. She jumped slightly and turned her head to see Ron standing with a frustrated expression. She blinked a few times perplexed at what she had supposedly missed and she was reminded of what day it was. She was supposed to have tutored him last night. To be completely honest, she had forgotten. She hadn't been keeping track of many things and she had been so exhausted the day before, she'd gone straight to bed after dinner.

Not wishing to admit that to him, she gave him a look of disbelief.

"I was hardly going to tutor you after the way you treated me the other night." She snapped back, ignoring Harry and Ginny's confused looks. Hermione couldn't believe Ron. He had made no attempt to speak to her all week and he still expected her to tutor him.

"So much for education being more important than a fight." He said sarcastically, quoting her from when they had previously had an argument. She glared at him and stood up, ignoring the unwanted attention it caused.

"How dare you! You expected me to tutor you after what you insinuated about me? Would you have done me a favour if I called you something similar?" She retorted, and saw his ears go a shameful red. "Exactly, so what gives you the right to expect the same from me?"

"Because I thought that stuff mattered to you!" He barked back, and slowly everyone went quiet around them.

"In that case, why didn't you bother showing up for our patrols on time?" She snapped, saying the first thing that came into her head. She regretted it instantly, knowing how pathetic it sounded but refused to back down. He gave her a look like she was insane.

"How has that got anything to do with this? You could have told me you weren't planning on showing up! I waited an hour for you!" He shouted, as a little colour rose in his cheeks at the declaration. Lavender's gaze shot towards him, as she had been under the impression he had been tired the night before and wanted an early night. She awkwardly started twirling some of her hair with her finger and tried to hide her hurt expression.

Ron tried to show that he wasn't embarrassed and kept his fierce gaze on Hermione. Her eyes had softened a small amount, learning he had waited for her and felt a little guilty. Not wishing to show this, she harshened her gaze again.

"Now you know how it feels!" She said seethingly.

"What? When someone can't be bothered to show up?" He asked in a mocking tone.

"No! When someone disappoints you!" She barked, and picked her bag up. She ignored his perplex look and stormed off, wanting him to work out why she was disappointed in him for himself. She angrily crossed her arms beneath her chest and didn't stop walking until she was in the library. She collapsed into a chair, dropping her bag in the process and massaged her temple. She could feel her fury slowly dissipate as the sadness overwhelmed her, learning how true her last statement was.

She was disappointed in Ron. Disappointed that he had lied to her about his true feelings for Lavender. Disappointed that he felt he couldn't tell her about those feelings. Disappointed that he could have those feelings for a girl like Lavender. But most of all, she was disappointed he had a girlfriend. The fact this girlfriend was beautiful and dim-witted just added to the disappointment.

She felt a pang in her chest as it struck her that the first time she had spoken to him since their fight, they ended up arguing even more. She'd successfully made the possibility of them becoming friends again, even smaller than it had been. She groaned and leant back in her chair, closing her eyes.

It was tempting to spend the rest of the night where she was. The library had always been her sanctuary. She could always count on it as a quiet place to be alone with her work or thoughts. But now, that had been tainted.

She'd unconsciously sat straight at the table she usually worked at, which was also the table she tutored Ron. She was even sat in the same chair and if she opened her eyes, she could imagine him sitting opposite her with that lopsided grin on his face, as if nothing had changed. The temptation to stay for the rest of the night increased to an overwhelming surge and she ripped her eyes open.

She stared at the empty chair that would have been occupied by _him_ and took a breath, willing for herself to look away. She couldn't though. Knowing he had been sat there, waiting for her for an hour the previous night. She furrowed her eyebrows thinking over his admission. If he had waited for her, like he said, then that must mean he still cared. Why else would he wait for her? She knew he despised working and it would have been foolish to try and convince herself it was for that reason. There really wasn't another option then. He still cared about her.

"Why does it bother you so much?" She heard a familiar voice ask, and she broke out of her daze. She slowly looked to see George standing in front of her. He had an amused expression on his face, but she knew there was an undertone of seriousness behind it.

"What?" She asked sighing. She desperately wanted to be alone, but she wasn't willing to risk having another argument that day. She avoided looking at him, wondering if he'd get the hint but he didn't. He sat down opposite her, in Ron's chair.

"Ron and Lavender. It really bothers you. You don't expect me to believe the only reason you're mad at him is because he was late." George said with a smile, and she chewed her lip, thinking she could give him a thousand reasons why. The problem was, she knew they weren't appropriate for her to say. George wouldn't understand why she felt that way, so she chose the most reasonable one to disclose.

"Because it proved he's not who I thought he was." She stated. She glanced at George and saw she'd have to explain. "He told me he didn't like her. I thought he was different and had some standards, that he wouldn't go out with someone because of their appearance. Not only has he proven he's only with her for that reason, but he lied to me too. He told me he didn't like her, next thing I know, she's his girlfriend. I don't understand why he couldn't have been honest with me. If he had said he'd liked her in the first place, I wouldn't mind so much. But he didn't. It just hurts because I've been completely honest with him."

She regretfully could feel tears building up and willed herself to stop crying while George got up and moved next to her. She couldn't remember the last time she had cried so much and she particularly despised how she was crying over an immature boy. She had cried every night for the past week, whether it was only a few tears or gut wrenching sobs didn't matter. She simply hated that she had been reduced to it so much.

"I thought he was my friend. Obviously, he doesn't think the same." She finished, and allowed George to take her in his arms. She knew she was angry at him and shouldn't allow it, but at that moment, she couldn't have cared less. He was willing to comfort her and she needed it.

He was knelt down on the ground with his arms around her waist and she let her head fall on his shoulder as she wrapped her arms back around him. She cried silently for a few minutes while he stroked her back.

"He's a prat all right. He doesn't think before he acts." George said, hoping it would stop her tears. More tears fell instead and he lifted her head up. He ran his hands to her cheeks, wiping away her tears. She hesitantly opened her eyes as he leant forward and she turned her head to the side, so his lips collided with her cheek. Her arms fell to her sides like the guilt that had fallen on her. He pulled away with a frown and she sniffed.

"I don't know how to say this." She admitted, knowing he needed an explanation to her pulling away. She wiped at her flushed cheeks and took a breath. She looked directly into his brown eyes, so he knew she was being completely serious with what she was about to say, "I think maybe we need to spend some time apart."

She blinked and was alarmed at how his composure had changed so abruptly. She couldn't remember a time when he had looked so upset. His expression looked utterly defeated and he appeared speechless. He blinked a few times as his hands fell to her legs. He must have known she could tell how distraught he was, but he wasn't trying to hide it like she suspected he would. It was for this reason she took one of his hands in both of hers as he glanced down at the ground awkwardly.

"I don't mean break up."

His eyes regained some hope with her utterance and he looked back at her. She kept her eyes transfixed on her hands clasped around his.

"I just think we can't spend as much time together as we have been. We need our space and I think that might be why we're arguing so much." She admitted, having thought about the reason for their arguments a considerable amount.

"I was under the impression we were arguing because we weren't spending enough time together." He stated, trying to sound casual about it when he really wanted to shout at her. She bit her bottom lip and glided her thumb across the soft skin of his palm.

"I know. We don't talk anymore though." She said, and felt him tense. "Don't deny it. If we do talk, it doesn't mean anything. It's only small talk and when we aren't talking, we're kissing or I'm working or something. I promise I'll try and not do work as much around you, if you promise to actually talk to me. I know you're mad at me and I can't put it right if you don't tell me what it is." She explained, hoping he would see where she was coming from. He was a very closed off person and at times it infuriated her.

His eyes flickered up to hers hesitantly and she saw his guard was back up. His eyes were completely unreadable and his expression was casual. He took a breath before saying, "But I know you won't agree with it. That's why I don't say anything."

She exhaled slowly as a way of calming herself down.

"I still need to know it. You know the second I'm angry at you and the reason for it. You have to be the same with me. Otherwise it'll never work between us." She stated sternly, and he took his hand out of hers. She tensed her jaw and awkwardly kept her hands as they were.

"What's the point? It's just going to cause another argument." He answered agitatedly, as he looked away from her.

"Then that's more of a reason for me to know!" She snapped, losing her patience. Why was he being so secretive? It was enough to make anyone wonder if he was hiding something else. She looked him up and down, trying to work out what it could be from his composure. His guard fell and he looked back at her, with worried eyes.

"What if it causes several though?" He said apprehensively. His voice sounded so quiet and unlike his usual one, it reminded her of a child's. Her temper melted as she knew it meant a lot for him to let her know how he was really feeling.

She bit her lip, not wanting to admit the truth to his question. She had a feeling he knew what would happen too, but was refusing to confirm it. She hated the position he was putting her in. It was incredibly tempting to lie and say they would be able to work through it. She wouldn't mind fooling herself with it as well. Being the honest person she was, she could never do that to him. She owed him that much at least.

"Then this relationship isn't going to work." She eventually declared. He cleared his throat and kept his eyes downcast as he nodded slowly. Not knowing what else to say, she picked up her bag and walked away.

She bolted up to the common room, intending to go straight to the dormitory so she could get on with a bit of reading as a way of taking her mind off things. As she made her way through the corridor leading to the portrait, she was startled by what she saw.

Lavender had her arms wrapped around Ron's neck with her body pressed right up against his and she was on her tiptoes, so her mouth could reach his. She was making her intentions very clear but he didn't seem to be helping her in the slightest. He was stood at his full height and had his hands resting on her hips as he moved his lips mechanically.

Hermione felt a cold stab in her gut seeing the couple's heavy snogging. She hadn't personally seen them in such an embrace before. The night she had stumbled in upon them, it had been so dark that she only recognised them once they pulled away from eachother. Now it was in broad daylight, for the world to see. She was mildly surprised she hadn't seen them snogging Lavender's detailed descriptions of it every night, it was hardly a secret that they did it an awful lot. In that moment though, Hermione couldn't care less that she hadn't seen it before. All she knew was how bitter the air seemed around her as she saw them and unconsciously pulled her robes tighter. It felt like her blood was running cold throughout her body, making it that much harder to breathe and she shivered.

From the angle she was at, Ron was facing her but Lavender had her back to her. Hermione saw Lavender's heels touch the ground, showing she was about to pull away. Hermione had no idea what made her do it, but she darted back around the corner so she was peering at the scene. She made sure she was hidden enough by the wall so neither of them would see, as their lips broke apart.

"Won Won," Lavender whined, and it took a lot of Hermione's restraint not to scoff at the ridiculous nickname. "You're making me do all the work here!"

"Sorry." Ron grumbled, sounding like he didn't mean it. "I'm just not in the mood."

"You seemed like you were a minute ago." Lavender said in the same whiney tone, as she did her best to look at him flirtatiously. He shrugged his shoulders in response and his hands fell from her hips. He looked away from Lavender and Hermione's eyes widened as it appeared he looked straight at her. She instinctively completely hid herself behind the wall and hoped he hadn't seen her.

It took a few seconds before she heard anything. Suddenly, there was a high pitched squeal.

"Ron!" Lavender exclaimed giggling, and Hermione furrowed her eyebrows, desperately wanting to know what he had done but knew she couldn't look around again.

"Needed a bit of leverage." He answered huskily, and Hermione felt a spark of electricity spread through her from his tone. She'd never heard him speak like that to her before and couldn't understand why it gave her a dry throat. She swallowed and tried to focus on their conversation again, not caring how irresponsible of her it was to do it.

She heard Lavender muffle a response and guessed that meant Ron had crashed his lips down to hers. Hermione took a breath and hesitantly looked around the corner again. Ron had now pressed Lavender up against the wall and was kissing her with much more enthusiasm. She was responding eagerly and her hands were running through his hair.

Hermione knew she couldn't take much more of this. She shakily tucked her hair behind her ears and before she could think twice about it, she rounded the corner and headed towards the portrait. She deliberately walked with heavy footsteps so they could hear her coming, but it seemed as if nothing could tear the couple apart. She gritted her teeth, trying to prevent a lump in her throat from forming, as Lavender unclenched Ron's hair.

Hermione determinedly looked at the Fat Lady and snapped the password. That seemed to break them apart, albeit reluctantly from Lavender. Ron immediately pulled away and let go. She stumbled forward slightly from how abrupt he was but looked at Hermione hazily. Hermione didn't dare look at either of them, knowing she'd end up showing how hurtful the couple's actions were to her. She hurriedly walked in the common room, trying not to think that they'd probably go back to what they were doing the second the portrait closed. It was pointless though, she knew they would. The moment she heard the portrait close, she couldn't stop herself from bursting into tears. She couldn't understand why, but she physically couldn't stop crying. She'd spent years being able to hold them back and put on a brave face, but it was as if she'd forgotten that skill. Or maybe, she'd never suffered as much as she currently was.

"Oh Hermione." Ginny said, seeing her from where she was sat with Harry. She hurried over to Hermione and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her towards the sofa. They sat down so Hermione was in the middle and Harry placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I'm so pathetic. I can't even make it through one day without crying." She spluttered, hating herself for it and accepted a tissue Harry offered her. She blew into it heavily and dabbed at her eyes with it.

"It's probably from your exhaustion. You haven't been eating as much and you're spending more time studying than ever." Ginny said, sounding more like Hermione than herself. If the situation were different, her or Harry would have pointed it out, but knowing it wouldn't help they kept quiet.

"I know. It's just-" Hermione started, but found she couldn't continue from the lack of oxygen. She staggered in a breath and fiddled with the tissue in her hands.

"Did you run into George? He went after you the moment you left dinner." Harry said, and she nodded as the tears increased. The portrait opened again and a giggling Lavender walked through breathless, causing even more tears from Hermione. Lavender glanced at Hermione's shaking form as she laid her head on Harry's shoulder, stopping Lavender's laughter.

"What's up with her?" She asked curtly, and Ginny glared at Lavender.

"None of your fucking business. Now leave us alone!" Ginny snapped angrily, and Harry looked at her mildly surprised. Hermione was actually rather thankful that Ginny said what she did and wouldn't have reprimanded her for her language even if she had the strength.

Lavender huffed snottily and stomped up to the girl's dormitory. Ginny looked away from her and glanced at Harry, who still had the same surprised expression. "Well it's not, the stupid cow."

Hermione gave Ginny an appreciative smile and wiped away the last of her tears. She lifted her head off Harry's shoulder as Ginny ran a soothing hand over her back. She glanced at Harry and knew he wanted answers about her sorrow.

"Do you mind if I explain it to you tomorrow Harry? I'm not really feeling up for it tonight." She said truthfully, and he gave her a small reassuring smile.

"No problem. Just get a good night's sleep." He replied, and she stood up, rubbing her tired eyes. She yawned as Ginny scooted up to Harry. He hung an arm across her shoulders as she propped her legs up on the sofa to oneside. He pecked her forehead, making her smile at him and Hermione felt a smile of her own spread across her face.

"I'm sorry for not saying it sooner, but I'm really happy you two are together." She admitted, and Ginny grinned while Harry looked sheepishly at his trousers.

"Thanks Hermione. That means a lot." Ginny said honestly, and Hermione smiled in return. She made her way up the stairs to the girl's dormitory and placed her hand on the handle. She took a breath, knowing she'd have to prepare herself for the inevitable conversation that was going on inside, before pushing down on it and stepping inside.

"And oh Parvati! He does the most tantalising thing with his tongue! At first, his nose kept getting in the way and he was so hesitant about where he touched me. But now, it's heaven. I swear I haven't been kissed like that since... I don't know when! He's so passionate about me." Lavender exclaimed enthusiastically.

Parvati had clearly grown bored of the conversation and was flicking through a copy of _Witch Weekly, _lying in bed. Hermione hastily made her way over to her bed and Lavender glanced at her. She looked Hermione up and down judgingly but shook her head. "Anyway! What was I saying? Oh yes, his lips..."

She continued describing Ron's snogging techniques and Hermione ignored her as she climbed into bed, pulling the curtains shut around her. She quickly cast a silencing charm around her, not wanting to put up with Lavender's gushes all evening and settled herself down to sleep. Her mind was in complete overdrive and she knew if she lay there thinking about it, she wouldn't get a wink of sleep. Instead, she imagined that there was no 'Ron and Lavender'. That instead she and Ron were back to being friends. And for the first time that week, she fell asleep with a smile on her face.

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><p><strong>A:N I know there wasn't a whole lot going on in this chapter, but it was important too establish the damage that had been done in both of the relationships to Hermione. I promise the next chap has more umm meat to it? There will be more going on and less focus on just what Hermione's feeling. This is also the main reason why the length of this one is on the shorter side too. Oh well, at least there was a good song right?**

**Thanks again for all the reviews! I'm really surprised at all the feedback and for once, I didn't get any hate in the last chapter, YAY. **

**Here's my tumblr for the usual reasons:**

**glowinglunatic[]tumblr[]com**

**Expect the next chapter up next Sunday as usual **

**Thanks for reading!**


	14. Chapter 14

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter: http:/www.*you*tube.c*om/*watch?v=*cuKSOalgq*zs**

**Copy, paste and take out the stars.**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 14

Cold Shoulder

"_For so bare is my heart _

_I can't hide_

_And so where does my heart belong_

_Now that I've found you_

_And seen behind those eyes_

_How can I carry on?"_

_Undenied – Portishead  
><em>

The silence was deafening as Ron and Hermione did their patrols. They were walking with as much distance between them as possible and he was deliberately lagging behind her. Irritated by this, she had been chewing her lip for the past several minutes but was now forced to stop as she tasted a little blood. She wiped at her bottom lip and felt a slight stinging sensation. She ignored it and continued walking, keeping her eyes to the ground. It turned out ignoring the stinging sensation was far easier than ignoring Ron.

Technically, the only thing she had to ignore was his footsteps. But it was the fact she knew he was there which made it so difficult to ignore him. He was only a few feet away from her, still insistent on not talking to her. She refused to be the first one to speak, because she didn't think she had done anything wrong. Yes, she wasn't tutoring him anymore but that was his fault. He shouldn't have insinuated that she slept around.

Once again, she thought he had a lot of nerve accusing that of her, considering who he was currently going out with. Hermione knew her thoughts were unfair on Lavender since she was basing it all on rumours she had heard. But for the rumours to start, she must have done something to make them feasible, right? And she wasn't exactly discrete in public with her latest flavour of the month. It hardly left anything to the imagination.

Hermione suddenly felt the anger boiling up inside of her at Ron. While his accusation hurt, it infuriated her also. She had done nothing to ever make anyone think of her as some sort of a scarlet woman, let alone him. What was he basing it upon anyway? He had seen her and George in the middle of a deep kiss; that was all. She had walked in upon a far worse situation with him and Lavender the other day. They might as well have ditched their clothing since they were practically shagging anyway.

She ignored the churn in her stomach and the uncomfortable feeling in her chest and whipped herself around. He had apparently all ready been looking at her since his gaze didn't alter, but she thought nothing of it as she strode up to him. She glowered at him coldly and he looked mildly surprised at her sudden fury, but stopped walking.

"You have some nerve accusing me of being a tart considering what I saw you doing the other day!" She snapped, placing her hands on her hips. He blinked a few times perplexed until he remembered what she was referring to and his ears went a bright red. He didn't know how to respond and awkwardly shifted his feet so she continued, "What gives you the right to call me a hypocrite and then become one yourself?"

"Th-that's different!" He stammered, not being able to think of a better excuse while being put on the spot. If she had taken the time to look at his composure, she would have known he was lying. He wasn't the best at it, judging from his eyes that were refusing to look at her and his sweating palms. But since she wasn't in a patient state, she glared at him thinking it was the truth.

"How?" She snapped bitterly. He gave her a slightly cold look from her tone and his temper shot up.

"Well, it's not as if I'm the only person that's walked in on you two like that!" He retorted, only riling her up even more.

"Please enlighten me who else has then!" She barked, betting she could name at least twenty more people who had seen him and Lavender snogging.

"Malfoy!" He answered, quickly making her eyes widen. The night Draco witnessed one of her more private moments with George was virtually a distant memory. She couldn't believe after a few months it was still coming back to haunt her. It was embarrassing enough without the humiliation of everyone else knowing Draco had seen her like that. He actually hadn't seen anything too bad. It technically had only been an incredibly heavy make-out session that had gotten out of hand. She doubted she would have let it get any further then it had gotten, and she glanced at Ron.

Seeing him seething with anger, she became outraged. It was unbelievable of him to be acting this way towards her. It wasn't as if she planned on Draco walking in on her and George. Ron wasn't exactly being discrete about his relationship, since he seemed intent on letting the whole world know he was in one. She ignored the nagging thought in her brain that wondered what they did in private if they could do something that intimate for everyone to see.

"That's hardly fair! It was in private, and not out in the corridor where anyone could just walk past!" She pointed out.

"So you're admitting to what he said?" He asked in a dark tone. She had never been prone to physical violence before with Ron. Not that he had never infuriated her, it was blatant at times he could. But she had never been pushed to the point where she had to physically hold herself back from hitting him.

She refused to accept that he was opting to believe Draco Malfoy over her. The rage coursed through her veins and she crossed her arms beneath her chest.

"That depends on what he _supposedly_ saw." She retorted heatedly, and saw Ron flinch from the tone. She couldn't care less though, if she was angry at him he was going to know about it.

His own anger dissipated slightly, no doubt from working out that her statement had been sarcastic as well as acidic. He awkwardly scratched behind his ear as his suspicions proved to be false.

He couldn't prevent his face from turning scarlet, not wishing to repeat how Draco had described their antics. Hermione managed to work out what Draco had said from Ron's bashful state and she couldn't prevent herself from blushing also.

"Of course not! I'd never do that!" She answered. She gave Ron a cold look, mildly hurt that he could think she'd treat sex so casually.

"So you haven't?" Ron asked before he could stop himself. Her eyes widened as it became apparent to her what she'd implied. Her instinctive response was to say no and snap at him about her personal beliefs about the matter. She stopped herself though and gave him an accusing look, unsure as to why he wanted to know in the first place. It was a rather invasive thing to ask of someone, not to mention a little peculiar when the other person involved was his brother.

"Why are you asking? Have you and Lavender?" She snapped, and saw his ears blend in with his hair. He glanced away from her intense gaze and stared fixatedly at the ground, suddenly fascinated by the stone. She shrewdly leered at him, unsure whether or not he was acting awkward because he was still a virgin or if he had actually had sex and didn't want to admit it.

His grumbled response of, "None of your business," did nothing to help either. Instead of trying to work out if he and Lavender had already had sex in the short period of two weeks that they'd been together, Hermione put an end to the argument.

"Exactly, so it's not any of your business what I've done either." She stated defiantly, and promptly whipped back around to continue patrolling. It took a few moments for her to hear Ron begin to walk again and expected him to lag behind like he had been. However, he actually hurried up so they were walking side by side.

The awkward silence was brewing again and Ron ran a hand through his hair, contemplating if he should break it with what he desperately wanted to say. In the end the tension in the air got to him and he said, "I don't think you're a tart."

He closed his eyes and sucked in a breath, sensing that she wouldn't accept his attempt at apologising.

"Then why did you say it?" She spat spitefully. She didn't want to show how she had believed what he said and how extensively it had hurt her. To discover that he hadn't even meant it was humiliating when she thought back to the amount of tears she had shed from it.

"I don't know." He sighed truthfully. She glanced at him and saw regret was written all over his features. She looked away again and gritted her teeth.

"So you deliberately said something to hurt me and you didn't even mean it!" She said furiously with her voice rising. He mentally kicked himself and ran a hand through his hair.

"No, I mean-I don't- I didn't mean it like that. I just sort of said it without thinking." He tried to explain and she threw him a bitter look. Seeing such a look from her he quickly continued, "I'm really sorry I said it, since you're nothing like that. I take it back."

"And that makes it all right? I'll take your word that you don't mean it now, but you must have meant it then. What if I did the same to you? I doubt you would be forgiving me now. What makes you think I should forgive you?" She barked, and he clenched his fist with his temper building.

"Because, I bloody well didn't mean it then! I don't know why I said it, I wasn't thinking! I don't see why I'm suddenly getting all the blame when your _boyfriend_ was the one who said it first." He retorted.

"What makes you think I let him get away with it?" She replied simply.

Despite her and George's decision to talk more, neither of them had spoken to eachother since they made that decision. None of them had really had the time, or it appeared that way. She wasn't blind and knew he was deliberately avoiding her in order to prevent the serious conversation.

She had hoped from their mutual decision to talk more that the cracks in their relationship would start to mend back into solidarity. It seemed to have done the opposite as the cracks were now rupturing them into a state of destruction. That was hardly letting George 'get away with it' like Ron assumed.

Not wishing to spill the details about her relationship though, she hastily snapped, "Lord knows if you think I'm a tart, what must you think of your so called 'girlfriend'?"

She knew it was a low blow but she couldn't have prevented herself from saying it any longer. She had been dying to say it to him ever since she discovered about their 'relationship'. She bit her bottom lip, knowing the impending rage that was about to consume him and briefly closed her eyes. She was shocked to be met with silence.

She hesitantly opened her eyes and looked over at him. He was awkwardly scratching behind his ear again with the tips of them practically glowing red. She loosened her teeth on her lip and blinked a few times perplexed. If she knew Ron at all, she knew he would always protect those he cared about. Yet here he was, acting as if he thought it himself.

He must have sensed her staring since he glanced at her and shrugged his shoulders casually. Hermione knitted her eyebrows, giving him a look of disbelief.

"You actually think that about her, don't you?" She asked calmly, and he shrugged his shoulders again.

"Well she's been around a bit, it's no secret." He replied simply. She could scarcely believe what she was hearing.

"Charming to know how much self-respect you have to be with someone you think that of." She snapped.

"What difference does it make to you if I'm with someone I think that of?" He said unsurely. He wasn't sure why but he was getting the feeling she was slightly jealous. He pushed down the hopeful feeling he got from it, knowing he shouldn't take pleasure in it. He didn't believe it anyway. She'd never be jealous of Lavender of all people. He seriously doubted she would ever have any romantic feeling for him in order to become jealous. After all, he was nothing compared to her.

"Because I thought you weren't like that!" She declared, voicing a recurring thought of hers.

"Like what?" He asked, genuinely curious about her answer. It might give him some insight as to why she said she was disappointed in him the last time they'd spoken. He didn't enjoy knowing she felt that way towards him.

"Like only being in a relationship because you want to sleep with them." She answered, and his anger shot up to boiling point. She really had no idea why he was with Lavender if she was going to accuse him of something so false. He thought with her intelligence she would have managed to work it out for herself, it was painstakingly obvious to him why he was with Lavender. Since she hadn't managed to work it out for herself, he indulged in her accusation. He couldn't deny how relieved he was she didn't know the true reason. There was no chance he would have been able to live it down if she did know.

"Why do you care so bloody much? It's my life, I can shag whoever I want." He stated. Her jaw dropped. He admitted to it. He had slept with Lavender.

She couldn't take it and ran away from him. She'd never experienced welling up while feeling nauseated before and quickly decided she never wanted to experience it again. She robotically made her way back to the common room, not sure whether she had imagined Ron calling after her or not, and found she didn't particularly care.

She walked through the portrait hole trying not to focus on the graphic images unconsciously forming in her mind. She fought to shut them out but found it impossible to do so. She desperately wanted to rid herself of the words now permanently implanted in her memory and refused to think about it for another second. She glanced around the common room and caught sight of Ginny, appearing as though she just came in from Quidditch practice. She took one look at Hermione and sighed, taking her hair out of a ponytail.

"Unfortunately, I know exactly who is responsible for the state you're in." Ginny remarked with a small sympathetic smile. She shook her hair out and made her way over to Hermione.

"It's not George." Hermione stated, crossing her arms irritably. She clenched her fists and dug her nails into her skin as a particularly unpleasant image of a euphoric Lavender flashed in her head. She must have visibly flinched as well since Ginny was giving her a strange look.

"Who said I thought it was George?" Ginny answered, causing Hermione to bite her lip. Had she really been that obvious? "Hermione, do you want to talk?"

The way Ginny said it made it seem like she already knew the answer and Hermione was about to shake her head in refusal. However, she caught Ginny's determined steely gaze and realised it was more of a demand rather than an offer of condolence. Feeling too exhausted to put up a fight, Hermione gave in and nodded as a lump rose in her throat.

Ginny gave her a reassuring smile and led her up to the girl's dormitory. Luckily for them, it was empty and they both sat on opposite ends of Hermione's bed. Ginny remained quiet, knowing she had to let Hermione explain it in her own time.

Hermione took in a shaky breath, looking down at her hands as she thought over what she was about to say. She closed her eyes and forced the words out before she could think twice about it.

"Ronald said he's had sex with Lavender." Hermione finally said. She was shocked to hear Ginny scoff and her eyes instantly opened. Ginny was laughing light-heartedly as if she had just told her the latest prank Fred and George had pulled. Hermione's lips tightened into a line, not appreciating how Ginny was taking so much amusement in her pain. She was about to say this when Ginny spoke,

"Sure he has." She said sarcastically, and Hermione furrowed her eyebrows. Ginny glanced at her and rolled her eyes in disbelief. If there was one subject Hermione would lack knowledge in, it would typically be one in matters of the heart. "He's obviously lying to you."

"What makes you think that?" Hermione asked, baffled about why Ron would lie to her about that.

"Well, I know there's a lot of rumours about the amount of guys Lavender has been with, but I seriously doubt she'd let it go that far so soon." Ginny explained, pulling off her dirty boots, "I'd have thought with all your experience on people spreading false facts about you, Hermione, you'd know that they wouldn't necessarily be true about her either."

Hermione bit her lip guiltily, having immediately believed them. She'd never even doubted it before Ginny suggested it and Hermione briefly wondered when she'd suddenly become so prejudice towards Lavender. True, they'd never really seen eye to eye, but she usually wouldn't automatically assume such things about someone she hardly knew, no matter her personal feelings towards them.

"But, why would Ron lie to me about that?" Hermione asked, trying to shake the guilty feeling off her. Ginny raised a questionable eyebrow as she took off her natural make-up with a flick of her wand.

"I think you already know." Ginny answered, and Hermione held back from snapping at how vague she was being.

"I don't." Hermione said defiantly, and Ginny's amused smile grew. She started running a brush through her hair so she'd have a reason to not look at Hermione.

"Really? I thought you'd have worked it out by now." Ginny said coyly, and Hermione's aggravation grew. She was not in the mood to be playing games and really wanted to get to the point.

"Ginny, would you just tell me what on earth you're going on about?" She snapped. Sometimes, Ginny could be just like Fred and George and it was commonly in situations where Hermione was lacking knowledge in something. Since this was a rare occurrence, it barely annoyed her how alike Ginny was to the twins. However, it was incredibly frustrating in those minutes for Hermione.

"Well, he probably said it because you and George have had sex." Ginny answered in a cocky tone and Hermione was so perplexed by Ginny's statement that she made no attempt to correct her.

"Why would he say it because he thinks that?" She asked with an uncomfortable coil forming in her stomach. She was beginning to get the feeling that she may not like the response Ginny would give her.

Hermione chose not to disclose her most recent conversation with Ron that concerned the very subject her and Ginny were discussing. Looking back on it, Hermione bit her lip out of humiliation. She was fairly certain she had accidentally shown that her and George were nowhere near the point in their relationship that Ron and Lavender were supposedly at. It was what made her so certain that Ron had been telling the truth.

"Possibly because he doesn't want you thinking he's more inexperienced than you..." Ginny replied, breaking Hermione out of her thoughts. Judging by Ginny's averted gaze and the cheeky sparkle in her eye, Hermione suspected that Ginny really didn't believe that was the reason. Hermione remained silent, urging Ginny to continue. She eventually looked Hermione in the eye with a small smile and said, "Or he could have said it to make you jealous."

Hermione's heart rate sped up and her eyes widened by a small amount.

"W-why would Ron want to make me jealous?" She stammered, her cheeks flushing in anticipation. Her heart was hammering viciously against her rib cage and she had to part her lips in order to get enough oxygen flowing through her body. Anyone would have thought she was about to get the latest version of _Hogwarts: A History,_ since she had balled up her quilt in her fists in excitement.

If she were to look at the situation properly, she would have realised she secretly knew what Ginny was about to say. She merely was too reluctant to admit it at the time.

"Because he fancies you." Ginny stated simply, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Hermione was rendered silent. All she could focus on was how her heart beat thundered in her ears at an erratic pace and how Ginny's words echoed in her mind. Her throat was suddenly dry and she was tempted to ask Ginny to repeat her comment. It would have been pointless though, Hermione knew she had heard her correctly and had to accept it.

She ignored the butterflies in her stomach and the warmth spreading inside of her as she let out a nervous chuckle. She took a sweaty shaking hand and tucked her hair behind her ear, only for it to bounce back again into its original position. She chose not to concentrate on the unexplainable joy she was experiencing and gave Ginny a look of disbelief.

"Don't be ridiculous Ginny. Ronald's never shown any kind of those feelings towards me." Hermione said in a strained tone. She coughed in an attempt to clear her throat and took off her jumper, all of a sudden finding it stifling hot.

Ginny laughed again and shook her head in disbelief. "Hermione, I sometimes wonder if it's actually you that needs glasses instead of Harry. You must be blind not to notice the way he looks at you, it's rather nauseating at times."

Hermione frowned and began folding her jumper. She swallowed, which had no effect on her dry throat, and straightened the creases out of her jumper. She willed for her heart rate to slow down as she took a deep breath and tried thinking back on any situation where Ron seemed to feel that way towards her.

After a minute of pondering, she could honestly say she couldn't think of one. She had to concede he seemed slightly awkward around her at times, but she'd always assumed that was because he didn't have many friends and was naturally like that.

"Didn't he catch you and George snogging or something the same day he got with Lavender?" Ginny pointed out, causing Hermione to blink several times puzzled.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean-" Hermione began, only to have Ginny interrupt her.

"And isn't it possible he wanted you to catch him with Lavender? He knew you were meant to be patrolling with him so you would have found him eventually."

"Ginny-"

"Plus he's always defending you against Malfoy."

"Yes but-"

"Not to mention he got the shit kicked out of him for it. Seriously Hermione, I know you're not as dense as you're making yourself out to be. You must have at least suspected something unless..." Ginny's eyes went inexplicably wide and they shot towards Hermione.

Hermione took no notice of this as she was finally given the chance to complete a sentence and she wasn't going to mess up the opportunity.

"I wish you wouldn't use language like that. And all of that is beside the point, I know for a fact that you, Harry, George, Fred and lots of other people would defend me, because that's what a friend does. Also, the fact he happened to see me and George _that way_ the day he became a couple with Lavender means nothing. I'm positive he's seen me and George kissing before, why would that change anything? Maybe you're the one who needs glasses if you think Ronald has looked at me in any other way than friendship."

"Oh no, Hermione." Ginny moaned, and abruptly stood up. Hermione was alarmed as Ginny started pacing, a habit she tended to do when she was beginning to get frustrated.

"What?" Hermione asked innocently, genuinely having no clue about Ginny's sudden change in disposition.

"Don't Hermione. You know exactly what I'm talking about, and I don't appreciate you toying with my brother's feelings like this." Ginny snapped, and Hermione's eyebrows furrowed. She was honestly clueless about Ginny's unexpected aggravation towards her. She could only really come to one conclusion after the conversation they had just been having.

"Ginny, it's not my fault you think that Ronald supposedly has 'feelings' for me." Hermione retorted, not liking how she was being made out to be the villain. She crossed her arms beneath her chest as Ginny halted to give her a harsh glare.

"No Hermione, this is about you being with George while you blatantly like Ron." Ginny spat, astonished that Hermione was trying to act so naively about it.

Similarly to Ron, Ginny had noticed the occasional hint that Hermione could share similar feelings for him. The odd prolonged stare, the way she spoke about him, the usual symptoms had been shown. But none were as significant as how she'd been acting recently. The uncontrollable crying, the lack of sleep and concentration and how she clearly wasn't herself anymore without him could lead anyone to believe she had strong feelings for him.

Ginny had known it was possible but hadn't truly believed it until she saw how in denial Hermione was over Ron's feelings for her. She had done the exact same thing when she first started having feelings for George and in her words, 'Refused to believe a joker like himself could possibly be interested in someone as studious as her'.

While Ginny was still trying to articulate how she hadn't realised this before, Hermione was having a war with her thoughts. The majority part of her immediately refused the idea of it. It was an insult for her to even think about it. For a start, she was with George. They may have been going through a rough patch, but that didn't mean she liked Ron. She was fairly certain she had deep feelings for George, so she couldn't have feelings for Ron too. It wouldn't be possible. It wasn't possible, because it wasn't true.

"Ginny, stop being so ridiculous. I don't have feelings for Ron." Hermione snapped irritably, causing Ginny to sigh as she ran a hand to the back of her neck. She sat back down and took a long breath.

"Hermione, can you honestly say you believe that?" Ginny started, and continued before Hermione could interrupt, "I mean it's an easy to mistake. The way you're reacting to Lavender being his girlfriend, the fact you're not yourself without him and he's the one person you've had hundreds of arguments with that you still care for. Even you can't deny that Hermione, so don't bother trying."

Hermione reluctantly had to admit there was truth in Ginny's words and remained quiet. She looked sheepishly down at her hands and absentmindedly bit her bottom lip. There was no way she could excuse the actions Ginny listed and her previous argument with Ron had exhausted her enough that she couldn't be bothered to put up a fight.

Glad to see Hermione's lack of response, Ginny asked the question she expected would get Hermione really riled up, "Do you love George?"

"Of course I do Ginny. How can you even ask that?" Hermione instantly snapped, hurt that Ginny had to ask that question.

"Are you in love with him?" Ginny asked, practically ignoring Hermione's last comment. Hermione's determined expression faltered for a split second, but it was enough for Ginny to see. Hermione ran a hand through her hair and leant back, letting out a sigh. She couldn't lie to Ginny, and she had to stop lying to herself.

"I thought I was. Now, I'm not so sure." She said and sniffed, "I want to be."

She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs as she wished for this conversation to be put to an end. It dawned on her how awkward she was beginning to feel talking to Ginny about this. Not many people could say they discussed their relationships with the sister's of the people they were with and those who had would only say they felt exactly the same as Hermione.

"It's not the same, Hermione." Ginny said with an undertone of frustration.

"I know that, Ginny. And I'm sorry that this is your brother we're talking about, but I can't help the way I feel. You know I care about him and would never deliberately hurt him. I'm just so confused. We've been arguing more than ever and it's so difficult for us at the moment. I'm finding everything he does annoys me in some way and..." She let her sentence trail off unsure how to finish as the tears spilled out of her eyes. She rested her forehead on her knees, not wanting Ginny to feel affected by her crying. Ginny noticed her distressed state anyway and shuffled up to the head of the bed. She placed a comforting hand on Hermione's back which consequently meant more tears leaked out of her eyes.

"Hermione, just forget I'm his sister for a moment. I'm only asking this as a friend. Do you want to end it? Because I'd much rather have the Hermione I know back rather than this blubbering mess all the time." Ginny said smiling softly, and Hermione let out a watery chuckle. She pulled her head back up and looked over at Ginny's concerned expression. She licked her dry lips and swallowed, taking a moment to answer.

"I honestly don't know. A part of me thinks I am in love with him and I'm only thinking these things because we're going through a rough patch." She explained, hastily wiping away at her cheeks. She took a deep breath, knowing how difficult it was going to be to describe her conflicting emotions. "And the other part of me thinks this as good as it's ever going to get between us, and I should end it sooner rather later."

She looked into Ginny's eyes for reassurance and was thankful that she had kept her word and was giving her a sympathetic look. She ran her hand up and down her friend's back before speaking,

"I'm not going to tell you what to do Hermione. That's something you have to decide for yourself." She stated, and Hermione nodded understanding. "I doubt you'd have listened to me if I did anyway."

Hermione smiled but remained quiet, knowing Ginny was going to continue, "All I can tell you is that every couple goes through a time like you and George are going through now. There's no such a thing as a relationship without its complications. The only difference is whether what they have together is worth fighting for."

Hermione masked her disappointment with a fake smile since Ginny's explanation had given her more questions rather than answers. She'd been with George for so long it had gotten to the point where she wasn't sure what life without him would be like. Fear rose within her when the thought itself didn't actually scare her. She knew it should have yet it hadn't.

"Well, I've spent far too much time discussing my brother's love lives today." Ginny announced, breaking Hermione out of her train of thought. Ginny stood up and glanced at Hermione with a slightly awkward expression. "Right, I'm going to have a shower. You sure you're going to be okay?"

"I will be." Hermione said hopefully, and Ginny knew that was the best she was going to get. She left the room with a short nod and Hermione's feigned smile fell from her face. She lay down on her bed with a sigh and pressed a hand up to her temple, feeling a headache coming on. It should have been no surprise considering the amounts of thoughts she had swirling around in her head.

It seemed as if only a minute had passed before the dormitory door opened to let a tired and irritated Parvati through mumbling to herself,

"Swear if she doesn't talk about someone else soon..."

Once she caught sight of Hermione, she shut herself up with a light pink tinge rising in her cheeks.

"Oh. Hi, Hermione. Sorry, didn't think anyone else would be here." She greeted, making her way towards her own bed.

"It's fine, Parvati." Hermione said, sitting back up. She tapped a glass on the bedside table with her wand and it instantly filled with water. She took a large gulp of it which soothed her head and dry throat.

She couldn't help noticing how frazzled Parvati seemed as she was tossing her clothes around haphazardly and didn't seem to be caring in the slightest about it. It didn't take a genius like Hermione to work out that Parvati must have been talking about Lavender before she realised Hermione's presence. Hermione felt her curiosity grow as she finished her glass of water and ran a hand through her hair.

"Umm Parvati, I don't mean to pry but, are you okay?" Hermione asked, and the girl let out a noise of frustration before flopping onto her bed.

"It's Lavender. I swear she's deliberately trying to drive me insane. Everything she does is Ron this, Ron that. It's as if her very existence revolves around him now." Parvati exclaimed, causing Hermione's eyes to widen with how open this girl was being with her. She didn't seem to care that her and Hermione could barely be considered friends, yet she was letting all her emotions out.

Hermione was mildly flabbergasted at how to respond for a second, seeing Parvati run her hands down her face, reminding her of a stressed Ginny.

"Oh. I'm sorry Parvati." Hermione said hesitantly, sensing Parvati wasn't going to continue until she contributed to the conversation.

"It's not as if I don't know how she gets when she has a boyfriend. I mean, I accepted the fact years ago she'd focus on them a lot more than me when she had one. It's just so much more this time with Ron. It's practically obsessive. I'm surprised he's putting up with her honestly. I don't know why, but it's like she's clinging onto him for some reason. Maybe she just likes him a lot more than I thought." Parvati explained, sounding like she was voicing her thoughts as they entered her mind. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath while Hermione felt as if she'd been stabbed in the gut. She hadn't been aware that Lavender had such strong feelings for Ron.

"Maybe." Hermione said unsurely, trying not to show the pain in her voice. She barely had time to gather her thoughts before Parvati started talking again.

"It doesn't make much sense though. She'd practically given up on him before he asked her out." She admitted, turning over so she was lying on her stomach with her heels in the air. She looked down at her nails and started cleaning them while Hermione's eyebrows furrowed.

"How do you mean?" Hermione asked. It seemed as if she didn't even have to try hiding her curiosity. Parvati was like an open book, desperate to get the words off her page. She'd been closed for so long that she was allowing anyone to read her and all she knew.

"I think she mentioned you were actually tutoring him or something when she went to see him once." Parvati informed, and Hermione's mind instantly went back to the memory. That was the day Ron had opened up about his feelings of being in Slytherin to her and Lavender had interrupted them while they were holding hands. It was surprising how long ago that memory felt to Hermione.

"I vaguely remember. She seemed pretty urgent about something." Hermione said, attempting to act casually about it. She wasn't sure if Parvati would have noticed if she seemed over-eager, the girl seemed so willing just to talk to somebody that she could have said anything as a response and she'd still talk.

"Well, once you left, she did her usual flirty routine and asked him out." She said, causing Hermione's eyebrows to rise. Hermione had always been under the impression Lavender would have been the kind of girl to wait for the boy to make the first move. She would have said this if she wasn't so keen to hear the rest of the story.

"He said no. Of course, Lavender didn't care about the explanation and left crying her eyes out." Parvati continued, and glanced up at Hermione. The look on her face showed how she'd momentarily forgotten she was explaining this story to someone who hardly knew Lavender, so she felt the need to inform Hermione about one of Lavender's tendencies.

"Listen, I know Lavender puts on this whole pretence of being confident and sure of herself, but really she's a fragile soul. She's very self conscious about her appearance and well, whenever she's feeling a little lower than normal about it she needs a boy to make her feel better about it." Parvati summarised, and Hermione slowly nodded, trying to understand why she needed to know this.

"So needless to say that night she wasn't feeling her best, and she ran into Cormac afterwards. To put it bluntly, she essentially shagged him." Hermione couldn't prevent the small gasp that escaped her lips and her hand flew up to her mouth. Parvati's eyes went wide and, despite how annoyed she was with Lavender at that time, she didn't want anyone judging her. "I know Lavender's got a bit of a reputation for being a bit easy, but she can't help it sometimes. We're all human, we make mistakes."

"What do you mean 'essentially shagged him'?" Hermione questioned, no longer caring if she seemed too curious about the situation.

"Well - they did everything but."

Seeing Hermione's shocked expression, Parvati took a breath and continued,

"Anyway, I assumed that she would have gone after Cormac. That's usually what she does. And she did for a few days. Technically, they weren't together, just kind of using eachother for not sex but what they'd already done.

"So, for some reason, the next week, Ron changed his mind, apologised about rejecting her and said he actually wanted to be with her. Her feelings had hardly changed, despite Cormac, so she naturally agreed. When she saw Cormac again after Ron, she told him whatever they had been doing was finished with and she's been with Ron ever since." Parvati finished, as Hermione's hand dropped from her mouth. She found her dry throat had re-surfaced once more so she shakily took hold of her wand and filled her glass with water again. She took a sip of it, letting Parvati's story sink in. It was a lot of information to gather in the space of a few minutes and it wasn't as if the conversation she had before was an easy one.

Hermione's first thought was that this was a lot for Parvati to reveal about her best friend's personal life. Then again, she could hardly say anything about it since she hadn't tried stopping her. Hermione noticed Parvati didn't seem to be to bothered by it as she stared intently at her painted thumb nail. She rubbed at it furiously, leaving Hermione to assume there was some ink on it.

"You say that she was sort of with Cormac before Ron.." Hermione started, intending to say, 'asked her out' but for some reason couldn't get the words out.

"Yes." Parvati answered, wondering what Hermione was getting at.

"Well, did she ever at some point...cheat on Ron?" Hermione wasn't sure why she was asking Parvati, she shouldn't have cared but despite her argument with Ron, she had to admit she still cared for him.

"Oh no!" Parvati said vehemently, but reconsidered herself. "Actually, now that you mention it, I suppose _technically_ she did. But it's not like she could help it, she wasn't going to say no to Ron when he asked her out while she was still sort of with Cormac – and she couldn't really push Ron away when he kissed her, what would she have said? Anyway, it's not as if she intended for it to happen, and the moment she was away from Ron she finished with Cormac. So it's not like she wanted too."

Hermione chose to keep her thoughts to herself. In her opinion, that was no excuse and it did constitute as cheating. Lavender could have easily told Ron that she was with Cormac but would willingly break things off with him as long as she could be with him instead. Admittedly, Ron wouldn't go for the idea, but Lavender clearly don't know Ron as well as Hermione did and had no idea how he would respond.

"I don't think her and Cormac would have lasted anyway." Parvati voiced, breaking Hermione from her thoughts. "I mean he was obviously only in it for the physical side of their relationship, they never spoke or even acted like a couple in public. I think that's why she likes Ron so much. He'll happily show her off and he hasn't pressurised her into anything yet." Parvati concluded, answering the one question that had been plaguing Hermione's mind for the past hour.

"He hasn't?" Hermione exclaimed in an oddly high pitched voice before she could stop herself. Parvati sniggered and raised an eyebrow at Hermione.

"No, why are you so surprised? George rather keen for it?" Parvati said with a small giggle. Hermione's cheeks instantly flamed and she took a sip of her drink as a reason not to reply. This only increased Parvati's giggling. "Maybe you and Lavender should get together and compare notes on the Weasley sex technique once she does have her way with him."

"Absolutely not!" Hermione snapped with a shocking amount of bitterness in her tone. Parvati blinked a few times, clearly surprised by this outburst and moved off her bed. She gave Hermione a strange look, seeing how tense she'd gone and sighed angrily.

"Calm down Hermione. It was just a joke, you don't have to attack me for it." Parvati retorted, as she began packing away the clothes she had thrown all over the dormitory from before. Hermione finished her glass of water and ran a hand through her hair aggravated.

"I wasn't attacking you Parvati. I just take that sort of thing seriously." Hermione said strictly, as Parvati placed the last piece of clothing away with her wand. Parvati shook her head in disbelief as she closed the wardrobe door.

"Whatever. I really don't understand how you and George are a couple sometimes." She commented lightly, and made her way out of the dormitory.

"Me either." Hermione muttered to herself, before falling back onto her pillow, willing for her exhaustion to take over her.

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><p><strong>A:N Dun duh duh!**

**Drama, drama, drama in this one! **

**I don't really like it in fanfics when the basis of Hermione and Ginny's relationship is just talking about Ron or Harry, but I didn't really see anyone else that Hermione could have talked to about it.**

**I also wanted to give Lavender a little bit of development because well, why the hell not?**

**Also, is this the first chapter where George doesn't actually make an appearance? I can't remember...**

**Anyway, thanks for all the reviews and keep 'em coming please! They never fail to make me smile and they really are inspiring.**

**Update as usual will be next Sunday!**

**Here's the tumblr again:**

**glowinglunatic[]tumblr[]com**

**Thanks again for reading!**


	15. Chapter 15

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=t1x8DMfbYN4**

**Copy, paste and ****replace the closed brackets with fullstops.**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 15

Return of Sunshine

"_Let's not fight _

_I'm tired can't we just sleep tonight_

_Don't turn away _

_It's just there's nothing left here to say_

_Turn around_

_I know we've lost but soon we'll be found."_

_Soon We'll Be Found – Sia  
><em>

"This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you." George said, sounding completely exhausted. He was stood in the middle of an empty classroom opposite Hermione, who was seething with anger. She harshened her already acidic gaze and placed her hands on her hips, not believing she was choosing to be with such a difficult person.

"How did you expect me to react George? I was hardly going to start jumping for joy knowing you think I'm over-sensitive and dull. What if I were to say you're arrogant and foolish?" She retorted scornfully, not wishing to disclose how much she believed her last statement.

"I'd say it's part of my charm." He said with a grin. She groaned and ran her hands through her hair, getting to the point where she wanted to scream at the top of her lungs. They'd been arguing for what felt like hours (which it probably had been) and she no longer had the strength to continue with it.

"I can't keep doing this." She replied feebly, with her arms falling to her side. She let out a sigh seeing he still had a bemused expression and looked away from him as she continued, "I'm getting so sick and tired of arguing, George."

She leant against the desk behind her and was about to put her face in her hands when he took a few step towards her and took her hand in his. He softly stroked the back of her palm, hoping it would soothe her frustration.

"Don't worry so much. You're just a little stressed. You always bite my head off when you are." He said jokily, causing her hand to instantly rip out of his. She didn't care how fatigued she was, she was going to make it clear that his statement made her blood boil.

"And the reason I'm so stressed is because of you! It's as if you expect us to get through this without you even trying." She dodged his attempts at trying to tuck some of her hair behind her ear. She knew this act where he tried to play his way out of an argument and it wasn't going to start working on her now.

"You know what a good stress relief is?" He said suggestively, and she flashed him a warning look. "I cannot believe you are turned on right now!" She snapped, about to stand up and walk out the room. However, his hands found her hips and pushed her down so she was sitting on the desk. Her eyes lit up with the intensity of a Fiendfyre curse from his forceful action.

"It's actually rather difficult not to be. When you get all fired up like you are, not going to lie, it's kind of hot." He admitted, running his fingers down from her hips to her knees. She clamped her legs together (not feeling anything remotely similar to what he was) and stopped his hands from descending up her skirt like she knew they would.

"Stop it. That's hardly going to solve any of our problems George." Her words didn't appear to have the desired effect since he looked down to her chest where a stray button was loose. He started leaning down to kiss her but she saw what he was doing and before she could stop herself, she slapped him across the face. He stumbled back out of shock and slowly raised a hand to his cheek. She kept up her dignified composure and tightened her robes around her.

"What the fuck, Hermione?" He barked, giving her a perplexed but annoyed look. He lowered his hand to reveal a red mark as she stood up.

"I told you to stop it, George, and you didn't. You left me with no choice." She retorted. He scoffed but said nothing while he turned away from her. She sensed he was in no mood to discuss their problems any longer and made her way over to the door. She walked out briskly, ignoring what sounded like George kicking a table, and let the door slam shut. She couldn't have cared less about how cruel her action had been since it was her instinctive response.

She wondered if he'd ever talk to her about their problems without wanting to get into her knickers while doing so. She pushed that thought out of her mind but still felt disappointed in him. Didn't he know her at all? He should have known she wouldn't stop being angry at him until they solved their problems. And at the rate they were going, it seemed as if that day would never come.

When he had finally approached her at lunch earlier that day, saying he wanted to talk, she believed it would be an apology for his actions. Instead he had essentially blamed her for their problems, saying if she wasn't so over-sensitive in the first place they wouldn't be having any issues. She clearly wasn't going to accept that as a sign of his remorse which consequently meant they'd spent their time together arguing again.

She exhaled and mentally groaned, thinking about how she'd promised Ginny she'd spend Christmas at the Burrow. Hermione had received a letter from her parents earlier in the week, explaining they were planning to go skiing again over the holidays. She had learnt during her fifth year that skiing wasn't for her, which was why her parents said she was free to stay at Hogwarts if she wanted, or to go to the Burrow if she'd been invited. When she told Ginny this, Ginny had been insistent that Hermione stay with them since Harry was too. At first, Hermione had been hesitant, given her situation with Ron and George, but Ginny had luckily asked her when she was still under the impression that George was planning on apologising for his behaviour, so it didn't take much convincing.

Nonetheless, Hermione had given her word and she never went back on it, so she would simply have to pull herself together. She rounded a corner and her eyebrows raised seeing Ron waiting outside the Fat Lady portrait. She instantly assumed he was there for Lavender, but when she glanced at her watch to see it was time for their patrol, it was clear he was waiting for her.

She took in his appearance in for a second, not remembering a time when he looked so awful. He was leant against the wall with his hands in his pockets looking downcast. Despite the hair covering them, she could still see the dark rings underneath his baggy eyes and his skin was even paler than normal. She barely had time to think of all the possibilities for his fatigue when he looked up at her.

A faint pink tinge rose in her cheeks and she immediately looked away from him as she continued walking towards him. They began walking side-by-side with the now familiar awkward silence brewing.

She ran a hand through her hair while words she desperately wanted to say plagued her mind. She flickered her gaze towards him as he loosened the green tie around his neck, something she would have reprimanded him about if they were on speaking terms. She wasn't sure when she had become so cautious around him. If they had been on speaking terms, she wouldn't have thought twice about reprimanding him for his sloppy appearance as a prefect. Usually she would have spoken her mind, not caring about the consequences. So, why was she acting so unlike herself around him? She hastily decided she didn't like it and blurted the words out she had been dying to say to him.

"I think you can do better than Lavender."

She determinedly kept staring straight ahead, not allowing herself to look at his reaction, sensing he wouldn't be pleased. Her heart rate increased with every second that passed before he said anything.

"What makes you think that?" He asked in a surprisingly calm tone, a few minutes later. She was a little stunned at his nonchalant attitude, expecting him to be far more protective over his girlfriend. She swallowed audibly and took a breath before speaking,

"Because you deserve someone who wouldn't give up on you like she did." She replied, unsure if he knew the story that Parvati had told her. She looked over at him and saw his confused expression, leading her to believe he didn't. She hesitated in telling him for a second, knowing it was going to be a shock for him no matter how she said it. _Best to get it over and done with,_ she thought and said, "Apparently the night you asked her to be your girlfriend, she was already with Cormac."

Hermione regretted saying the words when she heard him stop walking. She'd hardly prepared him for such a severe blow and the way she said it almost sounded condescending, as if she thought he was a moron not to know. She closed her eyes with a heavy heart and stopped her own walking.

"What?" He said in disbelief, and she bit her bottom lip. She hesitantly turned around so they were facing one another and she gave him a sympathetic look.

"Please don't make me say it again." She pleaded, knowing he had heard her. She guiltily looked down at her hands, not bothering to decipher why she was feeling so much sympathy towards someone she was currently furious at.

"But..." He trailed off, blinking several times. He knew how a boyfriend who had discovered this should have felt; distraught and furious. He was only feeling one of those emotions, and it wasn't for the right reason either.

"I only found out a few days ago otherwise I would have told you sooner. I mean, you deserve to know, no matter whether or not we're speaking. It's not fair, and I would have written to you but I thought someone else might see it and I doubt you would have-"

"Wasn't he supposed to like you?" He butted in, catching her completely off guard. Needless to say, Hermione was confused as to why he was asking that. He discovers his girlfriend had cheated on him and he's worrying about her instead? She kept her mouth agape for a moment, trying to work out why Ron was reacting so oddly. He was staring at her, refusing to speak until she gave him an answer, leading her to assume he thought she had heard wrong. That Cormac wouldn't have been with Lavender if he was interested in Hermione.

"Well, I don't know. He probably thinks of me as a conquest to brag about more than anything." She admitted, awkwardly tucking some of her hair behind her ear. Ron's fist clenched, but otherwise he was completely composed.

They stood in silence for a minute, as the humiliation sunk in for Ron about him discovering this from Hermione. She didn't even like Lavender and she'd known this. How long was it going to be until the whole school found out? He'd be even more of a laughing stock than he already was. Something he unintentionally voiced.

"I found out from Parvati, so I don't think everyone will find out." Hermione said, eyeing him suspiciously, "For someone who has just found out his girlfriend was with somebody else the night they became a couple, you're reacting surprisingly well. Anyone would have thought you'd want to tear him limb from limb."

"Who says I don't?" He snapped, not appreciating her accusing tone. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, not wishing to have another argument that night.

"Because I know you." She stated heatedly.

"Have you read some kind of a book on how people are supposed to react in these situations? Sorry to have disappointed you, I'll just act furious to please you, shall I?" He retorted, and she narrowed her eyes. Her wish was evidently not going to come true.

"There doesn't need to be any book on it, because it's common knowledge you would be reacting in some way if you had feelings for her." She answered back, disliking how he resorted to such a childish insult for her.

Ron's eyes widened a small amount, wondering if Hermione had figured him out and that he didn't really have any feelings for Lavender. He quickly disguised this as he pushed his hands in his pockets and began walking again.

"You only told me a minute ago. Is it really that surprising I'm in shock?" He hesitantly answered, as she matched his brisk pace.

"Remarkably, it is possible for humans to feel more than one emotion at a time." She spat sarcastically. He tried to ignore the twinge of pain he got from her patronising tone but couldn't.

"Why do you care? This has got nothing to do with you."

"Considering you wouldn't know about this if it wasn't for me, I beg to differ." She barked, using the same patronising tone.

"Yeah well - this is between me and my girlfriend now, so feel free to mind your own business for once." He snapped bitterly.

"I didn't..." She started, but instantly stopped seeing the hurt look in his eyes. She had obviously hit a nerve so she took a breath to calm herself down before speaking again, "I wasn't trying to be invasive. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Well, I don't need your help now. All right?" He snapped. He wasn't some child that needed his mum to comfort him when he heard some bad news.

"Fine!" She barked.

"Fine!"

They walked in silence for a few moments and Hermione unconsciously glanced over at Ron. Seeing an unreadable expression covering his features she swallowed, unsure if what she was about to say would be the smartest idea.

"What are you going to do about it then?" She asked prickily.

"About what?" He answered, sounding clueless.

"Obviously you're going to have to talk about it with her." She said strictly, and he ran a hand through his hair.

"I know! I'm not an idiot all right? What'd you think I need you to remind me to do it?" He glared at her coldly.

"What? No! I -"

"I don't need you pitying me! I'm not pathetic enough to want your help even though you can't stand me!" He shouted, and she stopped walking, placing her hands on her hips.

"Just because we're not talking, that doesn't mean I don't care about you! Unlike you, I can't change my feelings about someone overnight! I was only concerned about _you_!" She shouted back, and he wheeled around, storming up to her.

"And what makes you think my feelings have changed overnight? You can't get upset with me when I make assumptions about you and then do the same to me!" He retorted, and she opened her mouth to reply but quickly closed it, realising how right he was.

"I'm only being your friend and trying to help!" She eventually argued back.

"So we're friends now, are we? 'Cause you've hardly been acting like it the past few weeks."

"That's an unfair accusation and you know it! You're in the wrong here just as much as I am."

"Really? I don't recall biting your head off for showing up late to a patrol!"  
>"No, you just suddenly decided you despised me for some unknown reason!"<p>

"I was having a bad day and wanted to be alone, is that so hard to understand?"

"Then you could have told me instead of treating me like that!"

"Well, I didn't and if I knew this was all the trouble I'd go through for not doing it, I wouldn't have done it. It's not as if I can change the past!"

"Neither can I!" She bellowed, signalling the end of the argument. She couldn't believe how frustrated she was, having the same argument with Ron over and over again. It was embarrassingly similar to her situation with George since they seemed to having the same argument that was getting them nowhere.

Ron and Hermione both looked away from eachother awkwardly as they continued walking. Hermione barely had time to wonder whether or not their friendship was completely ruined since it only took a few seconds for Ron to snigger. Her eyes immediately flashed towards him and it looked as if she was about to explode.

"Suppose this argument is pretty pointless really. I mean, we both know we can't change the past, don't we?" He commented lightly.

Hermione tried not to show her amusement in the point he made, considering how furious she was, but somehow a smile broke through. That quickly lead to her letting out a laugh and Ron quickly joined in with her. She wasn't sure why but once she started laughing, she couldn't stop. Huge joyful laughs erupted out of her as if she hadn't laughed in weeks. Something that was probably more truthful than she would have liked to think.

Ron beamed at her reaction, clearly pleased he could break down the wall she had put up for him the past few weeks. She wiped away a tear that had managed to seep out of her eye, letting her laughter die down when a thought occurred to her.

"Actually, I used to use a Time Turner so technically I could change the past." She admitted, and Ron's jaw dropped.

"Wicked!" He exclaimed in awe, causing her to laugh once more. A dazed expression covered his features as the endless thoughts of what he could do with a time turner entered his brain. Hermione chose to let the information sink in for him but couldn't remove her bemused expression. His appearance to hers the first time she entered a library was rather uncanny. He eventually broke out of his trance to ask her eagerly, "You still have it?"

"No, I thought it would be too much of a temptation if I kept it." She admitted reluctantly, tucking her hair behind her ear as his face fell. He should have expected her to make such a logical and practical decision about it.

"Yeah, reckon it would be." He murmured disappointedly.

They both smiled at eachother shyly as the only thing they could hear were their footsteps echoing in the halls. Hermione looked away from him first thinking she'd have to cherish this moment, where it felt like they were friends again. She crossed her arms, feeling her chest ache and Ron awkwardly cleared his throat as his palms began to sweat.

"Listen Hermione, I really - well, I mean," He rambled as the tips of his ears went red. Her curious eyes glanced at him and she couldn't prevent the small smile spreading across her face. She had missed the awkward side of Ron and she had a feeling he was trying to say what she was hoping for. "I'm really sorry, about – well, everything, I guess; for all our arguments and just for being a prat these past few weeks."

The smile on her face dropped slightly as she remembered how they'd been to eachother.

"I understand. I'm sorry too, you didn't deserve what I've said to you either and...sometimes I say things that I don't mean and I think I can be hypocritical without realising it a lot of the time." She admitted, shamefully looking down at her feet.

"I get it. You know how what I've said to you I've regretted, since it's total bollocks really." He confessed, and she smiled.

"Shall we just agree that we should disregard a lot of what we've said to eachother recently?" She asked, and he grinned.

"Agreed." He answered, and they walked a little further in silence. He glanced at her awkwardly, not entirely sure what their apologies meant so he hesitantly asked, "So - are we, you know, good now?"

An unexplainable wash of joy flowed through her and immediately she beamed.

"We're great Ron." She said, not even attempting to hide her happiness.

"Okay, good. Cause I, urr, you know." He said, doing his best to hint how he had missed her without having to say the words.

"Yeah, me too." She answered, remarkably in tune with him.

"Right. Good." He said, letting out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding in.

They both blushed simultaneously and looked away from eachother. They now walked in a comfortable silence, both having lifted weights off their chests. Hermione couldn't be bothered to analyse whether or not it was a good decision to start talking to Ron again. All she knew was how badly she had missed him and she desperately wanted him back. If that meant she had to accept his dating Lavender, then so be it. It would be a small sacrifice to make, but his response to finding out Lavender had cheated on him had proved he didn't care about her as much as Hermione thought. Their so-called 'relationship' could be close to ending.

Hermione couldn't stop her smile from increasing at that thought.

"So... a Time Turner eh?" Ron brought up, with a small smile. She quickly broke away from her thoughts, unaware of the blush creeping up her neck.

"It was for studious reasons only. In our third year, I wanted to do as many classes as I could and Professor McGonagall thought I could handle the work load so she convinced Dumbledore to let me use one." She informed, with the majority of it going over Ron's head.

"How many classes did you need to take to pull that off?" He asked, seriously considering picking up more classes if it meant he could get one.

"All of them." She stated simply, making him chuckle.

"Should I even be surprised?" He questioned lightly, and she rolled her eyes at him playfully.

"No, but hopefully you've learnt to keep your mouth shut about it though."

"That's not me and never will be, Hermione."

"True." She said, expecting a string of ridiculous things she could have done to come streaming out of his mouth. No doubt she would have a decent reason explaining why she couldn't have done any of them.

"That has to be the most boring reason to use a Time Turner though. I mean, of all the things you could have done. Like... play Quidditch for an entire day!" He said, proving her expectations to be true.

"You're forgetting I can't be seen. Do you know the amount of wizards that have gone mad from seeing themselves through the use of it? There was a fascinating study on Dimitri Rosenhal who-" She began, hoping to put an end to most of his ways of using a Time Turner in one go. That was if he hadn't interrupted her.

"Okay, spare me the lecture." He put his hands up in surrender and she frowned at him, determined to continue just to have him beat her to it, "But you could have at least done something a little adventurous! Like...gone to the kitchens in the middle of the night! If you got seen by Filch you'd have the perfect excuse the next day, since it'd appear you were asleep."

"I'm not even going to go into the endless amounts of problems there are in that theory." She said, too tired to put the effort into something that would inevitably end up in a heated debate.

"Half the fun of it though. The risk of getting caught."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Apparently so, especially when the other half of it is food. Tell me, is that all you think about?" She teased playfully.

"'Course not." He scoffed, as his eyes widened marginally and he immediately looked away from her. He gave her little time to dwell on this odd action as he hastily changed the subject, "Now that we're well, back to how we should be, is there a chance-"

"Yes, Ron. I'll tutor you again." She answered instinctively, not revealing how much she had missed their tutoring sessions.

"Thanks 'Mione. I really owe you one." He said, not really sure how he would pay her back. If he ever did.

They continued patrolling and spent the entire time catching up with one another about what had happened the last few weeks they hadn't been speaking. However, one topic that was never touched upon was their relationships. Despite this, they deliberately walked at a ridiculously slow rate so they ended up patrolling an hour longer than needed.

Hermione couldn't hide the grin on her face as she walked into the common room, which didn't go unnoticed by Ginny as Hermione made her way over to her and Harry.

"Doth my eyes deceive me? Is that an actual smile?" Ginny asked mockingly, causing Harry to chuckle.

"It is. Ron and I are speaking again." Hermione informed, and used Ginny's stunned silence as an opportunity to hurry up to the girl's dormitory. Hermione knew she'd pay for it tomorrow, but she was too tired to answer Ginny's questions about it and all she really wanted to do was relax. Upon opening the door, Hermione realised the late hour since all the other girls were already asleep so she quietly moved over to her bed where she fell asleep peacefully for the first time in weeks.

* * *

><p>That Monday, Hermione made her way to Potions well rested with a smile on her face. This only increased at the sight of a familiar red head who she could now talk with. She noticed how much better he looked from the night before and he grinned at her as she made her way over to him.<p>

"Morning." She greeted joyfully, and he gave her that lopsided grin she had missed.

"All right?" He asked, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Yes, thank you. How did you find the essay Slughorn set?" She said, wondering if he had even attempted it without her help.

"Oh urrr-"

"Well well, the lovers tiff over then?" Draco interrupted, with his cronies by his side. Hermione glared at him coldly as Ron's ears turned red. He took no notice of Ron's embarrassed state and continued his taunting, "It's a shame, I really enjoyed how depressed Weaselbee's been."

"I always suspected you were a masochist Malfoy. It's good to know it's true." Hermione snapped, not in the mood to be toyed with. He flashed her a cold look as some of the Gryffindors laughed.

"I doubt you even know what that means, do you, Weasley?" Malfoy spat.

Ron's teeth gritted.

"Shove off Malfoy." Ron snapped, not willing to take any crap from Malfoy when he was finally happy again.

"Brilliant come backs as usual I see. At least the Mudblood has some variety."

Hermione instinctively grabbed a hold of Ron's arm to hold him back as he tried lunging towards Draco. She tried to disguise the pain the statement caused but unluckily, Draco caught her hurt expression and smirked.

"Does it still hurt Granger? Being called a filthy Mudblood? I warn you I could do plenty worse." He threatened, as her grip tightened on Ron's arm as his anger continued rising.

"Malfoy." Ron started in a low tone, fists clenched.

"There's the fact you're clearly shagging any guy who looks at you. First Potter, now two Weasleys. Your standards certainly are low."

Hermione's jaw dropped. That was a new type of insult from Malfoy and she could hardly believe her ears when she heard it.

"Shut the fuck up Malfoy!" Ron practically shouted, gaining the attention of everyone around them.

"Not denying it Weasley?" He said with raised eyebrows and he smirked, "I don't believe this. Shit she really is, isn't she? Classic. What do you expect from a Mudblood whore though?"

"That's it." Ron said, and wrenched his arm out of Hermione's grip. Ron caught Draco off guard as he was laughing with Crabbe and Goyle so he grabbed hold of Draco's shirt. He quickly shoved him against the wall and whipped out his wand, pressing it into his neck.

"Ron!" Hermione shouted, beyond shocked. Ron was staring daggers at Draco who wasn't even attempting to hide his fear. Ron's wand was pressed so deeply into Draco's neck that it appeared as if he was having trouble breathing. He was gasping for breath when Hermione hurried over to the pair of them and wrapped her hand around Ron's forearm. "Please Ron, think about what you're doing."

Her words seemed to get through to him as he lessened the pressure on Draco's neck but refused to release him or lower his wand. Draco immediately sucked in a deep breath, spluttering slightly while Hermione tried and failed at pulling Ron away. He stood stock still his gaze never wavering from fury, knowing Draco deserved the treatment he was giving him. Hermione's heart was hammering against her ribs, silently begging for Ron not to do anything else he may regret.

Once Draco managed to control his breathing, he swallowed and regained his usual cool composure. Seeing him smirk, Ron pressed him against the wall even more.

"Ron, stop this now!" Hermione snapped fearfully, having never seen Ron act so violent. She wouldn't have put it past Ron to hit Draco's head against the stone wall, a move that could end up in expulsion if Draco was injured.

"You should listen to it, wouldn't want to get beaten up again would we?" Draco threatened, causing Ron to scowl.

"Like I give a shit about that." Ron retorted, tightening his grip on his wand.

Draco muttered something Hermione couldn't hear but whatever it was, was the last straw for Ron. He was about to bellow a curse when he heard a far too familiar voice screeching, "Won Won! What are you doing?"

Lavender rushed over to him, having finally made her way through the crowd. With his attention no longer on Draco, Lavender was able to pull Ron away from him easily. Draco scurried away quickly, making his way over to Crabbe and Goyle shouting, "You idiots! Why didn't you do anything?"

Meanwhile, Ron was beginning to calm down but his anger only transferred to Lavender when she caught sight of Hermione. Lavender's eyes lit up in indignation.

"This is about _her, _isn't it? You always defend her against him!" She shrieked at Ron, making him blink several times confused. Hermione awkwardly looked around and saw there was an increasingly large crowd. She quickly made use of her prefect status and instructed them to head to their lessons.

"I'm not going to let him insult one of my...friends like that and let him get away with it." Ron said simply. Lavender noticed his hesitation and a lump rose in her throat.

"But it's always her! You still did it when you weren't speaking! You never defend me!" She cried, pointing an accusing finger at Hermione. She had managed to send the students away and glared at Lavender, not appreciating being spoken about as if she wasn't there.

"Do you really expect me to considering what you've done?" Ron answered back accusingly.

"Won Won, what are you talking about? I've been nothing but the perfect girlfriend to you." Lavender said in complete honesty making Ron scoff.

"Shagging McLaggen behind my back is something a perfect girlfriend does?" He snapped, looking at her disgustedly and the few people left around them gasped.

"Wha-how do you..." She took one look at Hermione and instantly rounded on her. "It was you, wasn't it? I don't know how you found out, but you'll pay for it bitch!"

"Don't talk to her like that! She was only telling me what you should have told me, Lavender!" Ron snapped, taking the words out of Hermione's mouth.

"But Won Won, I didn't mean to! I-I didn't mean for it to happen! He, I was just so unhappy when you turned me down and I don't know what I was thinking! I dumped him as soon as I saw him after you asked me out!" Lavender wailed, a lump rising in her throat.

"You still cheated on me Lavender. You could have told me what was going on." Ron snapped unsympathetically.

"I'm s-so sorry! I know I should have but, I-I couldn't help it! He-he took advantage of me!"

"As if!"

"He-he did! He knew I was upset about you and how vulnerable I-I was!"

Ron scowled, clearly not believing her. She didn't know what else to do so she started begging, "I was just so happy when you changed your mind! I-I didn't want to risk losing you and I knew I would if I told you I was s-seeing him! P-please understand Won...Ron! I would never have done anything with him if I-I knew you f-felt differently! He's nothing to..."

Lavender didn't bother continuing as she saw the way Ron looked at her. She immediately burst out into tears and ran away from him. He looked after her and felt the familiar sense of guilt whenever he made a girl cry. He sighed angrily and ran a hand through his hair as he faced Hermione. She had a look of disapproval on her features which changed instantly when her eyes were on him.

"I should probably go after her. Can you cover for me with Slughorn?" Ron asked anxiously, knowing he'd lose Lavender if he didn't get a move on.

"I don't know, Ron. You really shouldn't skip-" Hermione started.

"Please Hermione. I wouldn't ask you to do this unless it was an emergency and if I don't sort this out now, I'll feel like an arse for it." Ron pleaded, and Hermione could see how genuine he was being. She crossed her arms beneath her chest.

"But you shouldn't be the one apologising. You did nothing wrong, she's only doing this so you feel guilty instead of her." Hermione snapped, not liking how easily blindsided Ron was when it came to Lavender.

Ron awkwardly shifted his feet from side to side feeling as though he were at a crossroads. On the one hand, he knew what Hermione was saying was true but that still didn't help the unpleasant feeling he had from making Lavender cry.

"Maybe but, I still need to sort this out. And if you're my friend at all you'll cover for me." He said, before he rushed after Lavender, not letting himself think about it a second more.

Hermione was about to snap at him for the position he was putting her in when she realised he was out of her sight. The studious side of her knew she had no option but to tell Slughorn he was choosing to skip class. However, she was reminded of how he had stood up for her and how unfair it would be on him if she didn't cover for him.

She noticed the rest of the class had gone inside and she hastily made her way into the dungeon. There was no point in arguing with herself though, she knew she'd do anything for him.

* * *

><p><strong>A:N While Ron and Hermione's reconcilement seems quite sudden, I think it works in a weird sort of way that works for them.**

**Not really sure what else to say. Oh there is no alleged Time Turner case involving a guy called Dimitri Rosenhal, I just made that up. Quite like that name though, has a nice sort of ring to it.**

**Also I recently got the new HP lego game, which is just epic for Romione shippers to be honest, and was wondering if any of you guys have got it or played it yet? No spoilers please for beyond OOTP. I'd like to find out the added Romione moments for myself :P**

**Here's me tumblr (for some reason I imagined reading that in a pirate voice. Going to blame that on the fact it's nearly 2am here):**

**glowinglunatic[]tumblr[]com**

**Thanks for reading, and thanks for all the reviews! They really are very inspirational.**


	16. Chapter 16

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=V3b1CDLsiGU**

**Copy, paste and ****replace the closed brackets with fullstops.**

* * *

><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 16

Envious Healing

"_They can cut you open_

_And the silence surrounds you_

_And haunts you_

_I think I might've inhaled you_

_I could feel you behind my eyes."_

_Bloodstream – Stateless_

"_I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire...'"_

Despite the paragraph Hermione was reading was one of the most memorable and iconic parts of the novel, she couldn't seem to focus on it. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the book, on the contrary it was incredibly intriguing and she loved it dearly. The problem was her mind was preoccupied with something else. Well, someone else to be specific.

Hermione was well aware of Ron's habit of turning up late to their tutoring sessions. Usually he was about ten minutes late, so she often thought nothing of it. The problem was that he was not ten minutes late, but half an hour. Her anxiety levels had gradually been increasing for the past twenty minutes so now they were sky high. She glanced at her watch again to see the hand had only moved one minute. She started tapping her foot and dropped her book on the desk so she could run her hands through her hair and clench it. Surely Ron would have been able to send her a letter if he was going to be this late. More importantly, she knew he would have. Unless he was preoccupied with Lavender.

She tried not to think about that possibility since she wasn't even sure if they had made up from their fight earlier. Hermione hadn't returned to the common room, knowing the earful she would get from Lavender.

Then again, Lavender may not have returned yet either. She could be having a very thorough make-up session with Ron. This wouldn't exactly be the first time he ditched Hermione to be with Lavender instead, and she knew far too well the damage that had caused the first and last time that had happened. The thought of him being with Lavender like that infuriated her, so she abruptly started packing away her belongings.

She stormed out of the library, crossing her arms beneath her chest when a flustered young student crashed into her. The student fell back from the impact, releasing the books in his hands as Hermione stumbled, clearly taken aback. Hermione sighed but picked up the boy's books, seeing him scramble back to his feet exclaiming, "Sorry!"

He attempted to snatch his books out of her hands but she held them high enough so he couldn't reach.

"Wait a minute! You shouldn't be running like that in the halls, it's strictly against the rules. Where are you off to in such a rush?" She said, oblivious to his fearful expression.

"I need to find a teacher! A boy's been injured badly and if I don't get help they might come back and hurt him even more." He said quickly, jumping up to try and take his books back. Hermione's blood ran cold as his statement sunk in.

"Were they in Slytherin?" She asked immediately, knowing the possibility of it involving Ron was narrow. Even so, she couldn't deny the uneasy feeling arising in the pit of her stomach, somehow knowing it involved him.

"Yes, I don't know who it was they were beating up, but that Malfoy guy was there with those big guys-"

"Show me where they were. I'm a prefect so I'll make sure he gets help." Hermione said sharply, handing the boy his books back.

"It was this way." He said, and hurriedly led her down to the dungeons, taking a few turns before he was at the right one. Hermione's heart violently hammered against her chest.

"You can go now, I'll take it from here." She said in what she hoped was a reassuring tone. She couldn't be sure because she was so stricken by her worry. The boy hesitantly walked away, looking as though he was still going to find a teacher anyway. Not wishing to waste another second, she walked inside and her stomach dropped at the sight before her.

Ron was slumped against the wall with blood splattered all over him. He looked to be having difficulty breathing, and was trying to move but was clearly in too much pain to put very much effort into it. He had a deep gash by his eye, which still had blood running from it, with the other eye beginning to swell up. Most of his body was covered in dirt and scrapes, giving the impression he had literally been dragged across the floor. When you added the amount of clothing that was frayed and torn, it was undeniable.

He tried pushing himself up but gasped out when a searing pain shot through his arm.

"Ron!" Hermione gasped, and rushed over to him, falling to her knees at his side. He attempted to smile at her but winced and instantly stopped as she gently pulled him into a more comfortable sitting position. It took all his strength not to cry out in pain as she put pressure on his severely bruised, cut arms. She bit her bottom lip as she pulled out a tissue and began wiping away the blood on his face, trying to avoid the cuts.

"All right 'Mione. What you doing here?" He asked, trying not to let his voice give away the agony that was consuming him.

"I'll explain later. First, we need to get you to the hospital wing." She said in an oddly high pitched tone. She grabbed his arm to put it around her shoulder but he cried out with his face screwing up in anguish. She immediately stopped and softened her hold on him.

"I'm sorry." She apologised guiltily, acting as if she hadn't seen the tear trailing down his cheek.

"I'm fine." He said simply, as she whipped out her wand. His eyes shot open when she ran her fingers over a bruised lump on his wrist and she scrutinised it for a minute. If he wasn't suffering so much he would have noticed how easy it would be to slip his hand into hers.

"Is it broken?" She questioned strictly, showing how there was no room for argument.

"Probably. Hurts like hell." He gave in, and she pointed her wand at his wrist.

"Episkey!" There was an unpleasant snapping noise followed by a grunt from Ron but seeing no lump Hermione grinned. He hesitantly started bending his wrist and let out a sigh of relief feeling no more pain.

"Cheers." He said gratefully, and she beamed. She noticed his nose was slightly askew and fixed that, quickly initiating another groan from him. "Thanks again, but could you warn me the next time you do that?"

She shook her head in disbelief and ignored his question.

"Is there anywhere else that could be broken?" She asked, noticing the way he was clutching at his side.

"Don't think so." He said grimacing, but that didn't stop her from seeing if she could fix anything else. There seemed to be no end to the amount of cuts and bruises there were on him and she'd be there all night if she tried healing them merely through spells alone.

"We have to get you to the hospital wing." She concluded, eyeing the amount of blood staining his shirt.

"Yeah, just need to catch my breath first." He replied, still taking deep breaths. She was about to argue but saw how desperately he did need to do what he said so she conjured up a bowl with some water in and a cloth. She could at least make sure his wounds wouldn't get infected if he couldn't move yet.

Rolling up her sleeves, she soaked the cloth as he leant his head against the wall closing his eyes. Despite his bones no longer being broken, that didn't mean the after effect of having them broken had worn off. He tried to focus on anything except his own distress, and was almost thankful when Hermione started a conversation. Until he learnt what she wanted to discuss.

"Am I right in thinking this is Malfoy's work again?" She asked, as she started washing the blood off his forearm. He sighed and tried clenching a fist, to be reminded he couldn't do that without causing himself more harm. He could tell Hermione wouldn't back down about what had happened and thought he had might as well get the humiliation over and done with.

"Bastard got me when my back was turned. Slammed my wrist against the wall to get my wand, then got bloody Crabbe and Goyle to drag me in here. The rest is kind of a blur." He confided, glad he didn't have to see her pity since his eyes were still closed.

Not wishing to know the gory details, Hermione didn't question Ron anymore about what they did and finished cleaning his wounds on that arm.

"I really wish you hadn't done it." She admitted, running her finger beside a long cut on his arm. He swallowed, trying not to show the effect her touch had on him.

"I wasn't going to let him get away with what he said to you." He stated defiantly. He flashed his eyes open as a way of preventing his mind from wondering since she continued tracing the cuts on his arm.

"That's exactly why you shouldn't have done it. I mean, I love you for caring so much but..." She trailed off, unaware of how his pulse was beating at an alarming rate under her fingertips. She picked up the cloth again and started cleaning his other arm, thinking nothing of her comment.

However, Ron's mind was reeling. He told himself to think nothing of her statement, and how she probably only meant it platonically so he wouldn't focus on it, but that still didn't change the fact she had said she loved him. Everything suddenly became distinctly clear and his pain vanished while his happiness engulfed every part of him. If he could smile, he would have beamed in a way that would have been impossible to move.

"What?" She asked, effectively bringing him straight back to reality with his pain crashing back as well. She had seen the odd look in his eyes and didn't like not knowing what was going through his head. He awkwardly scratched behind his neck, unaware of the dried blood he was scraping off, trying to think of something to say except what he had been thinking. He had no idea how she would react if she knew what she had said meant so much to him, and he wasn't feeling nearly courageous enough to find out. Instead, he chose to explain more about how she ended up finding him like she had.

"Well...earlier, outside Potions, he threatened to beat you up too. I don't think you heard but later, when I saw him in the common room, he just sort of looked at me as if to say he was going to do it. So I kind of lost it and might have hit him, more or less." He informed shyly, knowing the earful he was about to get. Naturally, he got it.

"Ron, why? What did you expect him to do? He'd rather kiss Harry than allow you to humiliate him like that without avenging himself. And the fact you did it in public, what if Snape had seen you? Or any teacher for that matter. You can't have honestly thought Malfoy would let you get away with doing something like that!" She snapped, and harshly rubbed at Ron's skin.

"That's why I did it though. Figured I was going to pay anyway 'cause I embarrassed him in front of loads more people outside of Potions so I didn't think it would matter much - ow!" He retorted, as she unintentionally re-opened a gash that started oozing blood once more. She threw the cloth in the bowl, not caring about the water that spewed everywhere because of it, and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Of course it matters! If it means you suffer more, then it certainly does. How could you not care about that?" She retorted angrily, throwing him an absurd look. He merely shrugged his shoulders (one of the few actions he could do pain free), avoiding her gaze.

"Might as well learn to deal with it now." He let out under his breath, not meaning to say it as loud as he did.

"What do you mean?" She questioned suspiciously, sensing she wasn't going to like his answer.

"That it's going to keep happening unless I stop talking to you." He said regretfully. He had never planned on telling her, knowing exactly how she was going to respond.

She was rendered speechless for a few minutes, having never suspected that to come out of his mouth. She was well aware of Malfoy's hatred of muggleborns, but she never considered him to act so violently towards someone who she spoke too because of her blood status. An image of when she saw Ron earlier, battered and broken, flashed in her mind making her heart grow heavy. It was clear he wasn't going to tell any teachers about what Malfoy would do to him, since he was far too proud to admit that Malfoy could hurt him. That really only left one option.

"Maybe we should-" She mumbled, awkwardly tucking her hair behind her ears as she stared down at her lap.

"No, that's not going to happen." He interrupted sharply, flashing her a furious look for even considering ending their... friendship.

"But Ron, if it's for your own safety-" She attempted saying, looking back at him weakly.

"No." He persisted strongly, "I don't care, you're my friend. I guess my only friend, and I'm not going to let him take another thing from me. He's already taken enough." He spat bitterly.

He stared intensely into her eyes, his fervid gaze never wavering, sending small shivers up her spine. Her chest swelled with admiration at his determination to stand up for their friendship, but she couldn't help feeling slightly apprehensive about it. She couldn't bare being the reason for him enduring so much agony again. He must have seen this since he added, "It's probably an empty threat anyway."

"It could be," She considered, and glanced at his hand. She bit her bottom lip as a lump rose in her throat, seeing a deep slit on his palm that would inevitably scar.

"I don't want to find you like this again though." She said, closing her eyes.  
>A tear fell on his palm, and his eyes immediately went to her. Another one fell and he blinked a few times, not sure if she could be crying since her head was so low. When she slowly lifted her head up and he saw her watery gaze, his eyebrows raised and he sat up straighter.<p>

He wasn't sure what to do, consoling crying girls had never been his forte. Not to mention he had no idea how to comfort one who confused him so much. Choosing the safe option, he awkwardly placed a hand on her shoulder.

This only caused more tears to glide down her cheeks and he was about to withdraw his hand, unsure how he could have saddened her more by doing that. Before he even had the chance to move an inch, she had thrown her arms around him, burying her face into his neck. Her fingers clung to his back desperately as she let out a tiny sob.

He tensed, trying to work out if he'd somehow passed out after being beaten up and he was in fact dreaming. After a few seconds, with the scent of her filling his nostrils, it was impossible to deny so he hesitantly placed his hands on her back. Feeling his warm hands on her waist, heat coursed through her body and she instinctively clenched his shirt in her hands. She tried to stop crying as her heart raced but somehow she ended up crying even more. His hands ran further around her so she was enveloped in his arms completely.

"I'm sorry, I just can't stand the thought of you being so severely hurt again. I-I don't think you realise how scared I was when I found out what had happened." She informed him, and he initially tensed again, feeling her breath on his neck. He slowly let a small smile spread across his features as he relaxed and tightened his grip around her.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." He said, wishing he could say something better and more comforting. That seemed to be enough for her though since her eyes stopped filling with tears. She pulled back slightly so she could wipe away her tears, but kept an arm around him. She'd forgotten his face and neck were still covered in blood so unfortunately some had been transferred onto her. She didn't care though and glanced at him to see his eyes full of concern. She smiled reassuringly at him, in turn making him smile too.

"Oh, I didn't hurt you did I?" She asked fearfully, not believing she didn't consider his state before throwing herself into his arms like that. He chuckled lightly.

"No, you're so tiny I'd be surprised if you could." He said jokily, and she mockingly glared at him.

"I am not! You're just abnormally tall." She replied, filling the bowl with clean water and soaked the cloth. He tried and failed at giving her a lopsided smile causing a low moan to escape as a cut began bleeding again. He wiped it away with his sleeve, much to her disapproval as she started cleaning his neck.

"Did you manage to find Lavender earlier then?" She said, mainly as a way of changing the subject rather than wishing to speak of his girlfriend.

"Urr yeah, we're fine now. Thanks for covering for me." He said cautiously, seeing her jaw tense.

"No problem." She answered stiffly, and he would have ran a hand through his hair if he was in a healthy state. He should have known he'd pay for making Hermione disregard the rules.

"She just wouldn't stop crying, I felt like such a prick about it." He excused, noticing how Hermione was deliberately avoiding his gaze.

"It wasn't your fault. She was the one who made the problem and couldn't face up to it." Hermione explained calmly, making Ron's eyebrows raise.

"I-I guess, I don't know." He stuttered, surprised at her reaction. He had been expecting a lecture about how he shouldn't skip lessons, not her sympathising with him over the situation.

"Have you forgiven her?" She asked, her curiosity taking over.

"Not sure. I said I did, but I just wanted her to stop crying really." He replied, pulling at a loose thread on his trousers.

"You lied then." Hermione summed up, and Ron snapped the thread off his trousers completely.

"Technically. Is it really that bad if you're sparing someone's feelings though?" He questioned, and she hesitated on draining the cloth of excess water. She couldn't help thinking over the fact she was sparing Ron's feelings by hiding how she really felt about him and Lavender, even though she really didn't know how she felt about it herself.

"I suppose not." She said eventually, and continued cleaning him. Ron chewed the inside of his lip contemplating on whether or not to ask his next question. He wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to know the answer but a part of him needed to know.

"How are you and George doing?" He asked, and she let out a deep sigh.

"Honestly? Not good. We haven't really been in awhile." She said truthfully.

"Oh, why's that?" He said, hoping his voice didn't sound too enthusiastic.

"For too many reasons, but I won't bore you with them."

"I don't mind." He said, and glanced at her as she gave up on using the cloth. She gave him a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"Thank you for the offer but I wouldn't want to put you in that position." She said, and rubbed away the dirt around his eyes with her fingers, making sure to take extra care around a gash.

"Are you sure?"

She hesitated in responding.

"Hermione, you know you can tell me anything right?" Ron said empathetically.

"Yes, but I'd rather not talk about it." She responded sharply.

"Okay." He gave up, noticing how she was still insisting on getting every single speck of dirt off him.

"You know I can do that myself." He said, gesturing to her still rubbing away at the patches of dirt and blood she had missed.

"That depends." She replied with a natural smile.

"On what?" He asked coyly.

"Whether or not you're still in pain."

"Oh, well you'd better carry on then."

She smiled, pushing his hair back to get off the last of the grime and rubbed it away with her moist fingers. His pain melted away as it dawned on him how close they were. He could make out the freckles scattered over her nose and cheeks that he'd never noticed before. There was an overwhelming urge to reach out and touch them, or any part of her. He really felt he was about to when she leant away for him so she could conjure a small towel.

"Do you think you can dry yourself?" She asked, as a blush rose in her cheeks. She'd only just noticed how his shirt and hair were sticking to him and she was suddenly very aware of how the temperature in the room had increased. It took all of her self restraint not to look down at Ron's chest since his shirt was now see-through.

Unaware of her state, Ron attempted to take the towel off her only to wince and double over, wrapping an arm around his middle. He clamped his lips together to stop himself from letting out a noise of pain and snapped his eyes shut as Hermione immediately wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

"Actually, we better get you to the hospital wing." She said worriedly, trying not to think about the possible internal injuries he could have.

"One sec." Ron said through gritted teeth. He slowly leant back, as Hermione bit her bottom lip anxiously, hating the pain he was in. He opened his eyes to look straight into her worried ones and he smiled lopsidedly, not caring about the pain.

"You're not going to start crying again, are you?" He joked.

She tried to scowl in response but couldn't prevent the smile that spread across her face as she shook her head in disbelief, unaware of the door opening.

The person they had been discussing a few minutes ago walked in and George's eyebrows shot up in astonishment, not expecting to see his girlfriend and brother when he walked in. His surprised gaze quickly altered as he caught the smile on Hermione's face and the way she was holding Ron. When she looked up at George, her happiness dissolved.

"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked accusingly, eyeing the objects that looked like dung bombs in George's hands. He quickly hid them from her view as the tips of Ron's ears went red. He instinctively fidgeted in embarrassment but, due to his condition, he recoiled quickly back into his previous position taking a sharp intake of breath. Hermione's gaze quickly returned to him and she rubbed his arm soothingly.

"Could say the same about you." George remarked, stepping into the room fully. He looked Ron up and down in bemusement, noticing how he was dripping wet, "Did Peeves get you or something Ronniekins?"

Hermione's soft gaze flared with anger when she looked at George.

"No, George. I had to get the blood off him somehow, didn't I? And you have some nerve calling me that the way you left things last night." Hermione snapped, continuing to stroke Ron's arm soothingly.

"Are you still mad about that? You were the one that 'left things' that way." George said sarcastically, not in the mood for another argument and apparently missed her remark about Ron's state.

"Tell me George, why did I have to leave?" She answered, not expecting George to unabashedly admit it in front of Ron. He shrugged his shoulders, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Not my fault you're so frigid." He said with a grin.

"What?" Ron exclaimed in a mixture of shock and anger. He immediately regretted raising his voice since it caused a coughing fit that reignited every dull ache in his body into blinding stabs of agony.

"George! Do you have no sense of morality at all? Just help me take Ron to the hospital wing and we'll talk about this later." She snapped, as Ron continued coughing and George walked over to them.

"Why? What happened?" He said concerned, now able to see Ron's injuries. Ron managed to stop coughing and sucked in the cold air gratefully. George bent down and together, him and Hermione managed to help Ron up with minimal amount of pain.

"Malfoy." Ron stated, as Hermione linked her arm with his while his other arm was slung over George's shoulders.

"He called me a Mudblood." Hermione explained.

"Ah. So you're this way because you were defending my girlfriend?" George said lightly, but his harsh gaze gave away how he really felt. Ron looked at the ground awkwardly as Hermione gave George a look of complete outrage.

"George!" She said in a raised voice.

"Well, he did." He said sniggering, while Ron pretended he didn't exist.

"Ron was only doing what any other friend would have done." She retorted heatedly.

"I am here you know." Ron mumbled.

"'Course he is. That's why I've had Lavender sobbing to me for the past hour over how she thinks the two of you are having it off behind our backs." George stated with a distinct lack of emotion, ignoring Ron.

"What? I thought you said you fixed things between the two of you." Hermione said, turning her attention to Ron.

"So did I." He answered truthfully, as they began working their way up the grand staircase.

"You're not denying it then?" George commented casually, looking at the pair.

"Are you actually saying you believe that rubbish?" Hermione said in utter disbelief.

"It's a possibility." He said simply, and her jaw dropped.

"How dare you?" She shouted, not able to keep her voice down she was so furious. "If it wasn't clear before, it certainly is now of how much faith you have in me. Not to mention how low that is to think Ron capable of doing such a thing."

"Cheers for that by the way. Not as if I feel shit enough already." Ron included, glaring at George.

"I'm not the only one who thinks this you know. Half the school is raving on about it." George said honestly. Hermione couldn't help but notice the distinct lack of anger in his tone. For someone who believed his girlfriend was cheating on him with his brother, he was being rather casual about it.

"That's the biggest load of bollocks I've ever heard." Ron snapped, looking at George incredulously.

"Exactly." Hermione agreed, "How could you believe an absurd school rumour over us? Neither of us deserve this kind of treatment from you."

"Really? It'd only make sense considering how distant you've been lately." George stated to Hermione, deliberately excluding Ron from the conversation.

"Once again you're blaming anyone except yourself for our problems." She pointed out, shaking her head in disbelief and for the first time since the argument started, he looked angry.

"Can you get off your high fucking pedestal for once Hermione? You're not that perfect!" He shouted, taking her aback as she blinked a few times. When his statement sunk in, she looked at him hurt.

"You bloody prick!" Ron retorted, glaring acidly at him.

George sighed angrily before pushing Ron into Hermione as he stormed off. She stumbled slightly, now having to support all of Ron's weight, but managed to remain upright as she looked after George. She tried to focus on the task at hand rather than George's words and wound her arm around Ron's waist while manoeuvring his arm around her shoulders.

"That arsehole! I've never seen him act like that." Ron snapped, as they began walking again.

"That's all I've seen of him recently." She commented quietly, and he looked at her concerned. After something like that, a quiet Hermione rather than a furious one was never a good sign.

"Does he always talk to you like that?" He asked calmly.

"No. Only if he's really angry, otherwise he'd act like it was a joke." She said.

"Oh."

They had finally made it to the floor of the Hospital Wing and walked in silence as they rounded a corner and it came into sight.

"Thank you by the way." She said, and he turned to look at her.

"For what?"

"Everything." She gave him a small smile as she looked back into his eyes.

Ron was about to question her further but Hermione pushed open the doors to the Hospital Wing and Madam Pomfrey immediately bustled over to the pair of them.

"What have you done this time?" She tutted, leading Ron to a vacant bed. Hermione quickly explained what she had healed as Madam Pomfrey immediately started slathering herbal salve all over Ron's skin. When Hermione had finished explaining all she knew of what had happened she was abruptly forced out and left, weakly waving at him in goodbye.

It was typical that as soon as something had started to work out in her life, another part had fallen spectacularly to pieces. She took her time as she made her way back to the Gryffindor Common Room, glad to have some time alone. It was astonishing, the amount that occurred in the space of a day. She felt so drained by it all that she couldn't contemplate thinking it all over and what the repercussions would be. For the first time in her life at Hogwarts, she looked forward to the fact it was the Christmas holidays the next week so she would be able to solve her problems without the added stress of school work.

Once she made it to the common room, she found Ginny and Harry in front of the fire. He had the familiar distant look in his eye that he always got whenever in deep thought as he absentmindedly ran his hand through Ginny's hair.

"Harry, how was your meeting with Dumbledore?" Hermione asked, as she sat in an armchair beside the pair, glad to have something to take her mind off her situation. Harry blinked a few times, breaking out of his trance and seemed to notice Hermione's presence. He registered what she asked and looked down at Ginny. Seeing she was asleep, he felt safe in describing what had happened.

"Confusing. He showed me another memory and we discussed what it could mean, like last time. But as I was about to go he said something about how it would be best if I didn't trust just anyone anymore.'" Harry explained, causing Hermione to frown.

"You can't expect to trust anyone, that's understandable, not to mention a little belittling. You've hardly been trusting 'just anyone' for years. He must mean someone in specific." She said, to which Harry nodded. She bit her lip, trying to work out what it could mean. "Is he referring to the memories you're looking at? Maybe someone in them is trying to seek you out."

"I don't know, he wouldn't tell me anything else. It could be though; he's showing me parts of Riddle's life in Hogwarts so maybe someone is linked with a way of how he returned. Then again, it was pretty obvious that only Pettigrew was involved that night. He was livid with all the other Death Eaters since none of them had helped." Harry considered, referring to the night Cedric died.

Hermione mulled over Harry's point and unconciously glanced over at the fireplace. That seemed to jolt something in her memory and she eagerly told Harry what she thought.

"Harry, please don't bite my head off about this, but what if he was talking to the Half Blood Prince?" She said eagerly, "I mean, have you told Dumbledore about the book?"

"Actually, that does make sense. I did ask him about it earlier in the year but he didn't know who he was. Perhaps he found something out about him, and I haven't told him that I burnt the book after what happened to George." Harry said, having grown to despise the book as much as Hermione when he discovered how dark some of the magic was inside it.

"What you guys rambling on about now?" Ginny asked, slowly opening her eyes sleepily. She sat up straight and stretched her arms out as Harry and Hermione shared a look.

"It was just something in Dumbledore's meeting." Harry eventually said, knowing he could never lie to Ginny.

"Oh, and I can't know because?" Ginny said, immediately more awake.

"Ginny, you know I can't tell you." Harry said guiltily, and her content expression fell.

"I still don't see why you can't. And don't give me that 'It's for my protection Heroic bollocks'." She sighed.

"But it is! The less you know, the less of a target you'll be. Being close to me is bad enough." Harry took Ginny's hand in his, hoping she wouldn't be too angry but saw how conflicted she was. "Ginny, please. Don't make this more difficult than it needs to be, I'm doing it because I care."

Her walls broke down and she glanced up at him with a small smile.

"I know. I think that's why I like you so much." She said, playfully nudging his shoulder with hers and a smile grew on Harry's face. Hermione smiled at the pair of them together, glad at least some people in her life were happy.

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><p><strong>A:N I don't own the first italicized paragraph (obviously) it's from the fantastic novel 'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Bronte. Which may I add is NOT a romance novel that Stephenie Shmeyer has brain washed so many teenagers into thinking it is. **

**I also don't really own Ginny's last line since it's essentially J.K's line from when Harry broke up with her, all I did was change the tense. Just wanted to see if anyone noticed I threw that in :P**

**I'd like to point out that just because Hermione hasn't done anything to Malfoy in this chapter because of what he did to Ron, that doesn't mean she won't in the next one *nudge nudge wink wink*. Some other people may also contribute to it too.**

**I'm really sorry everyone but I'm afraid I won't be able to update next Sunday. Recently I haven't been able to write very much because of university applications and just college work taking over my life (isn't it remarkable how all teachers/lecturers have this habit of setting coursework around the same time so it fills up all your free time, and then when you're not doing work you're just too tired to do anything?) Anyway, this means I'll now be updating every two weeks instead so the next one will be the 11****th**** December. **

**I really hate that this happened but the reason I managed to write so many chapters before was because of the summer holidays and I obviously had more time to write then. Once I get a decent amount of chapters pre-written I'll go back to a weekly updating schedule (but don't expect that to happen anytime soon, what with Christmas coming up and then exams after that, for me at least).**

**Thanks for reviewing! Apologies about the weird duplicate review problem with the last chapter, I didn't know there was even a rule about it so I deleted a chapter that was basically author's notes since I didn't see the need for it anymore and that's why it messed up the whole reviewing thing. But extra thanks to the people that made the effort to review anyway! I really appreciate it.**

**Thanks for reading.**


	17. Chapter 17

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&ob=av3e**

**Copy, paste and ****replace the closed brackets with fullstops.**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 17

Quarrelling Queens

"_He never ever saw it coming at all_

_It's all right_

_No-one's got it all_

_I'm the hero of the story_

_Don't need to be saved."_

_Hero – Regina Spektor  
><em>

Hermione smiled as she walked in the Hospital Wing and saw Ron lying in his bed playing Wizard's Chess. It had been a week since he'd been beaten up by Malfoy and he would have been out days ago if he wasn't feigning the amount of pain he was in so he could get out of doing schoolwork. Naturally, Hermione had noticed this and taken the liberty of bringing in his work anyway.

All of his injuries were now fixed and a few had only left some scars. There was a particularly nasty one running down the upper part of his left arm where some jagged stone had dug into his skin, but the others were practically invisible.

Madam Pomfrey had initally been furious with Hermione for fixing his broken bones, but could hardly remain that way after finding she had done a better job than Lockhart with Harry's arm. The only problem had been that with Hermione's lack of her experience, she hadn't quite managed the process to be completely painless so Ron had a dull ache in some areas. Other then that he was fine.

The same couldn't be said for Malfoy though. Hermione had taken the liberty of telling Professor McGonagall what had happened, claiming it was her duty as a prefect, so when McGonagall informed Snape of the incident, he was left with no option but to give Draco a detention every week until the end of the year, remove him from the Quidditch team and had to take away his prefect badge.

If that wasn't enough, Ginny had taken to sending a Bat Bogey Hex his way whenever she saw him while Fred had been setting all kinds of pranks on him. Luckily, the pair had been discreet enough that no-one else knew it was them except Hermione. Naturally, she chose to turn a blind eye to it all and occasionally, with a little coaxing from Ginny, she'd throw her own hex in as well. She'd be damned if she let Malfoy get away with what he did to Ron.

Hermione was brought back to the present when Ron moved his bishop and grinned, declaring, "Checkmate!"

The chess pieces groaned in annoyance while Ron crossed his arms smugly. The white king marched over to his queen as the rest of the white pieces on the board stamped their feet. The queen had managed to fix herself together again and was brushing off the skirt of her dress as the pawns on both sides stuck their tongues out at the opposing team.

"You're supposed to be defending me! Not gallivanting about the place trying to take as many of the pieces as possible!" The king shouted outraged, flailing his arms around. The queen stopped putting her hair back up and turned to glare at her husband.

"My purpose in life, Richard, is not to serve you!" She shouted back, and stabbed her finger in his chest. Ron watched the pair trying to hide his growing smile as Hermione came to stand at his side.

"Hello, what's going on here?" She asked, stifling a laugh seeing the contrast between the kings and queens. While the white pair were arguing, the black pair were celebrating by trying to eat eachother's faces.

Ron glanced up at Hermione and moved himself so she could sit beside him.

"They have this argument everytime I beat them. You'd think it'd stop being funny but it never does." Ron explained, as Hermione sat next to him on top of the covers. She laid her legs out in front of her when the arguing king and queen turned towards Ron.

"And just who do you think you are young man?" The queen snapped at Ron, taking him by surprise. It wasn't often the chess pieces would address him outside a game but then again, he had never commented on them before. "Are you saying our marital problems are amusing?"

"Marital problems?" Hermione asked with raised eyebrows, making Ron snort. Having never paid much attention to Wizard's chess before, Hermione was surprised that the pieces seemed to have complete minds of their own and were capable of feeling and emotion. She had assumed they did as they were told and only supplied knowledge on chess. She never would have thought that the king and queen were actually married and went through everyday problems like human couples did.

"Yes! Not that it's any of your business young lady, but this is a recurring issue for us! He doesn't respect me!" The queen answered, and Richard gave her an incredulous look.

"Respect? You want to talk about respect Berengaria? Shouldn't a wife be with her husband in his time of need?" He retorted, and Berengaria's wrath quickly switched from Hermione to her husband.

"Oh please! If you weren't so busy eyeing up Edith over there, you would have been able to get yourself out of the situation easily!" She said indignantly, gesturing wildly with her hands in frustration.

"For the last time, I don't fancy Edith! I have no idea why, since I feel like hating you sometimes, but I love you!" He bellowed, and Berengaria's furious gaze dissolved into one of deep longing.

"Oh Richard." She said dreamily, and raised both her hands up to her chest.

"What? Please tell me what I have done this time!" He continued snapping, unaware of her soft tone since his back was to her.

"Dear, I feel the same way." She cooed, as she took a few steps towards him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and he turned around with a similar expression to hers.

"You do?" He said in disbelief, causing her to smile.

"Of course! It's as if we were-" She started, wrapping her arms around his neck as his wound around her waist.

"-made for eachother." He finished, and they proceeded to kiss.

"They do that everytime too." Ron said with a slight grimace, and Hermione let out a small laugh as their lips broke apart.

"So... how long have you been together?" Berengaria asked in a much happier tone, with her arms still wrapped around Richard's neck. Both Ron's and Hermione's eyes simultaneously went wide and a deep blush spread up Ron's neck. Hermione was (for once) thankful her hair was bushy enough so Ron couldn't possibly see her deep red cheeks from where he was sat.

"Oh we're – urrr, we're not together." Ron eventually replied, his face glowing with embarrassment.

"It'll only be a matter of time." Berengaria commented, winking and Hermione's heart rate sped up.

"Exactly, why else would you have visited him every day since he has been in this place?" Richard included, and Hermione furrowed her eyebrows.

"How do you even know I've been here everyday?" Hermioned asked, distinctly remembering that Ron hadn't been playing chess before when she was in the hospital wing.

"We're not deaf dear, that box is thin enough to hear through." Beregaria said patronisingly. "Interesting to see you haven't given an excuse about you being here everyday."

"He was seriously injured and I wanted to see if he was all right." She defended hotly, not about to let a chess piece get the better of her.

"Yeah, I would have done the same if it were Beren'." Richard said, returning his attention to her. He softly ran a hand over her hair and she smiled affectionately at him.

"Aren't they sweet, dear? Both so in denial." Berengaria said, staring at Ron and Hermione with a knowing spark in her eye, if it were possible for chess pieces to be able to do such a thing.

"That's enough from you." Ron said, having quite enough humiliation for one day and immediately started packing the chess set away. They tried fighting him off but it was all to no avail since they were all in a box on the floor in a minute.

"Are they always that outspoken?" Hermione asked, with the reminants of a blush still in her cheeks. They both were looking away from the other as Hermione's hands itched to get a book to hide behind and Ron stared intently at his lap.

"Pretty much. It's a cheap set so they tend to be." Ron replied, scratching behind his ear awkwardly, feeling uncomfortable talking about his lack of money. Sensing this, Hermione avoided the subject.

"I didn't know you played." She admitted with a hint of pride.

"Yep, you're lucky to know one of the best." He said smugly, stretching out his arms.

"Oh really?" She said lightly, with a raised eyebrow.

"That's right."

"How long have you been playing then?" She asked, and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Since I was about eight I guess. My Uncle Bilius got me a set for my birthday and I've been playing ever since. Bill, my brother not my uncle, actually put a charm on this set so I can play on my own which is great since I...umm, yeah." He trailed off awkwardly, not wanting to admit how lonely he had once been. He didn't care how obvious it had been, there was something about saying it out loud that made it painfully more real. Wanting to get off the topic quickly, he asked, "Do you play?"

"I've tried Muggle Chess a few times, but not Wizard's Chess." She replied, in a tone that indicated she thought nothing of it.

"What?" Ron practically shouted, causing her to jump slightly and she instinctively clutched at her chest.

"Honestly Ron, it can't be that surprising." She said, as she tucked her hair behind her ears.

"It is. I mean, you seriously haven't played Wizard's Chess before?" He said, still in astonishment.

"No, I haven't."

"Now that's just wrong on so many levels. Over the holidays, you'll have to play me." He insisted.

"Okay, but I should warn you now I'm not very good."

"You? Not good at something? We must alert Professor McGonagall at once!" He exclaimed in mock horror. She rolled her eyes at his immaturity but didn't say anything, far too used to his teasing to be annoyed by it.

She suddenly remembered her first year and she almost slapped a hand to her head out of her idiocy.

"What am I talking about? I have played Wizard's Chess! In my first year, Harry and I had to play a lifesize version of it." She exclaimed, practically making Ron's eyes gleam in excitement.

"Lifesize version? How? When?" He asked eagerly, and she let out a small chuckle at his enthusiasm.

"It was one of the tasks we had to go through in order to get the Philospher's Stone." She explained.

"Sounds bloody brilliant." He said in awe, as his eyes glazed over, imagining what it could have been like.

"It probably would have been if we didn't have to be certain pieces." She said sighing, looking down at her lap. Her statement broke Ron out of his daydream immediately.

"How do you mean?" He asked slightly perplexed.

"Well, part of the task was that we had to play our way across the board. The teacher who set it up obviously wanted it to be as dangerous as possible to get through so we had to become pieces. I had to be a castle and Harry was a bishop." She informed him.

"How'd you do?" He asked, more concerned on if she got hurt than how well they played.

"Not very well. We both barely knew the basic rules of it and kept on getting the pieces different movements' mixed up. We only had a couple of pieces left by the time Harry made a wrong move that resulted in me getting knocked down by the opposing queen.

"After that, I woke up in the Hospital Wing having suffered a mild concussion. Once Harry awoke, he wouldn't stop apologising, he felt so guilty over it." Hermione remembered how annoying she had found it at the time since he still hadn't told her about what had happened after she passed out. She smiled fondly at the memory before quickly going to retell the story Harry eventually told her, "Anyway, when I was unconcious, Harry was really beginning to struggle. We were lucky that Dumbledore had somehow found out about what we were doing and found us. When Harry explained why we were trying to get the stone, Dumbledore helped him across the board and through the other tasks until they got to the Potions one.

"It was set up in a way so only one person would be able to go forward and Dumbledore said that Harry had to do it. I think a part of Dumbledore knew Harry had to face Voldemort that night and it wouldn't have been right for him to take Harry's place. You probably would have heard what happened after that."

Hermione glanced over at Ron who looked stunned. He had never known all the specific details about how Harry and Hermione had succeeded in getting the stone, no-one had known except them and Dumbledore. When all the information sunk in, he asked the first question that popped into his head,

"They didn't just leave you unconcious in the chess bit, did they?"

"Oh no! Dumbledore sent Professor McGonagall a patronus explaining what had happened and she came down to take me to the Hospital Wing." Hermione said, and Ron leant back exhaling.

He was surprised at how easily Hermione spoke of these near death situations that had happened to her. She seemed to think nothing of them now and he wondered what other nightmares she must have faced in order for her first year to seem so normal.

"It would have been fantastic to have you there." She admitted, breaking him from his thoughts. He instinctively grinned at her proudly.

"Oh yeah, I would have gotten you both through that no problem." He said confidently, and she sniggered.

"It would be just another game to win for Ronald Weasley, would it?" She questioned, with a raised eyebrow.

"Too right it would!" He declared, causing her to laugh.

When her laughter died down, the pair sat in a contented silence for a few minutes before Ron changed the subject.

"How was the Slug Club party then?" He reluctantly asked, knowing the answer wasn't going to be too positive.

"Tedious really, I didn't go with George so I ended up going alone. Of course, Harry and Ginny kept me company for a little while but they wanted to spend sometime to themselves as well. I didn't mind but it was rather dull just having to deal with George pretending I didn't exist the entire time." She said truthfully, keeping her eyes on her skirt as she picked off Crookshank's hairs.

Fred and George had spent the majority of the night spiking the food and drink so by the end of the party nearly everyone had been a victim of a Puking Pastille, Canary Cream or Fever Fudge. When Hermione complained to Professor Slughorn about their behaviour, he merely laughed it off finding it all rather fascinating and amusing. This left Hermione in such a rage she had abruptly left the party having enough of the exasperating ordeal.

Although, a minor improvement about the night was Cormac's failed attempt to try and kiss her. He had accidentally indulged on a Ton-Tongue Toffee so his foot long tongue merely flopped out in front of her. He didn't seem too keen on trying after having such a severe blow to his ego. She chose to leave this part out for Ron, knowing he'd focus on what Cormac had attempted to do rather than on what had actually occurred.

"Prat." Ron spat, referring to George.

"My thoughts exactly." She agreed.

They both shared a smile where the moment was naturally broken with Ron's stomach grumbling. Hermione snorted, unable to stop herself, but the noise jolted her memory. She picked her bag up off the floor and took out a pumpkin pasty with some pumpkin juice. Ron's eyes gleamed seeing it and he gave her a look of utter admiration.

"Have I told you how brilliant you are recently?" He asked grinning, and she laughed, handing him the pasty which he immediately dug into.

"No, you haven't. Would you care to refresh my memory?" She responded jokily, and poured out the pumpkin juice into two glasses.

"Hermione, you really are the most wonderful person I've ever met." He declared with his mouthful, consequently spraying crumbs all over her.

"Why thankyou Ron, I'll cherish this moment for the rest of my life." She replied grimacing, brushing the food off her. He hastily swallowed to take another bite and murmured some sort of apology inbetween.

They sat in a comfortable silence as they ate. She took an enormous gulp of her pumpkin juice as he looked over at her. Seeing her slightly flushed cheeks and small smile he found himself blurting out what he'd been dying to tell her the moment he saw her,

"I'm going to break up with Lavender."

That certainly took Hermione by surprise. She immediately started coughing, never expecting that to come out of his mouth. She placed her drink on the bedside table while covering her mouth and leant forward in an attempt to make the coughing stop. It quickly passed like she had hoped and she turned to look at Ron astonished.

"Really?" She asked, and took a few breaths as he swallowed uncomfortably, not expecting Hermione to choke as a response.

"Yeah, well, I've been meaning to tell you, but you know when we had that fight last week outside Potions?" He said, and Hermione nodded, not thinking it was possible for her to forget it. "When I went after her, I said I was sorry and that I over reacted about it-"

"Do you think you over reacted?" Hermione asked, unable to stop herself from asking the question. He fidgeted uncomfortably and avoided her gaze.

"I don't know, I reckon I did, but she still hurt me. I don't even care that she was with the guy, it was just that she kept it from me. I've been putting up with people keeping secrets from me all my fucking life because they think, 'it's what's best for me'." Ron explained, and Hermione remembered how he had reacted in the summer when he found out about the Department of Mysteries and Dumbledore's Army. "It reminded me of that and I guess that's why I reacted like I did.

"Anyway, when I apologised to her about it, she seemed to accept it. After it though, she became really clingy. I don't really know why but she's now expecting me to spend every minute of my day with her and she'll get sulky if I don't.

"Then there's the whole her thinking me and you are well _you know_ and...I don't know, I thought it can't be a good thing when you can't remember any of the reasons you're together, can it?"

Hermione remained silent, trying not to think about how close to home his last statement had been. Not wishing for Ron to suspect anything, she instead chose to act indifferent about it.

"Have you thought about how you're going to break up ith her?" She questioned, causing him to look down at his lap shyly.

"That's the problem. I'm kind of hoping she'll get the idea I don't want to be with her so I don't actually have to do it." He admitted, predicting the sigh that escaped from her mouth.

"Ron, you can't expect her to do that." She said disappointedly.

"I know, but it's a worth a shot isn't it?" He said hopefully.

She shook her head in disbelief but decided to humor him.

"And how, pray tell, exactly have you been 'giving her the idea' then?"

"Umm I've pretended to be asleep everytime she has visited me?" He said cautiously, making Hermione's eyebrow raise.

"Is that all?" She said unimpressed.

"It's a start." He grumbled, sinking into the bed.

"Ron, you'll have to actually break up with her. You can't ignore her and expect that to be enough." Hermione stated, voicing something Ron was well aware of.

"I know. Maybe I can send her a letter in the holidays." He joked, and she narrowed her eyes.

"That's cruel and you know it." She said heatedly.

"Doubt it with what I've had to put up with." He mumbled, "Well, can't you just tell me how to break up with her? You're a girl, so how would you like to be broken up with?"

"There's no good way of breaking up with someone Ron. In the end, someone's going to get hurt." She answered, keeping her gaze downcast while trying not to focus on how similar their situations were. She couldn't deny the thought of breaking up with George had crossed her mind several times recently and as time went on, she was becoming more tempted by the idea. The only undesirable thing about it was the actual process of breaking up with him, something Ron was also apparently struggling with.

"Cheers, that makes me feel so much better about it." He said sarcastically, masking his disappointment. She saw through it in a second though.

"The best way is just to be honest, she may not like it at first but in the long run it'll be for the better. At least she won't have to wonder about why you ended it." She explained logically, not sure why she couldn't follow her own advice. She absentmindedly flattened out the creases in her skirt as a way of distracting herself as Ron ran a hand through his hair.

"I guess," He sighed, dreading how ugly things would turn out if he did actually tell Lavender the truth. "Don't suppose you could do it for me?"

Hermione scoffed making Ron smile lopsidedly.

"Yes, it'll be far better coming from me considering how much she hates me right now." She said playfully, and he shrugged his shoulders.

"You could still give it a go." He insisted, and she let out a laugh.

"You have to be one of the most insensitive boys I have ever met."

"Boy?" He scoffed.

"Yes, with your immaturity you are hardly a man." She informed him, and he scowled at her.

"I'm more man than you are!" He declared, and his ears went red realising what he had just said. She laughed again and managed to say,

"I would sincerely hope so."

"Ha ha, you know what I meant." He said dryly, as her laughing died down.

"Not exactly, you were insinuating you're more of a man than me which anyone with eyes could already tell. I see no reason for you to be stating the obvious." She said with a playful smile, and he rolled his eyes.

"All right, I get it. I'm sorry okay? I'm well aware that you are a woman." He said, hoping that would be the end of the conversation.

"Woman?" She said with a raised eyebrow.

"Well yeah, or girl. I don't know, same thing isn't it?" He answered, trying not to blush but failing.

"If that's the case, why were you offended when I said you were a boy?" She asked him knowledgably, leaving him speechless. His mouth was hung open and he blinked a few times, trying to think of something intelligent to reply with. Instead he was beginning to resemble a goldfish and she couldn't help laughing once more.

"I should have known." George exclaimed, entering the room, instantly putting a stop to Hermione's laughter. Both her and Ron's heads flashed towards him with their mouths slightly agape. The only thing George's mind registered in that moment was the fact that Ron and Hermione were sharing a bed together.

"George!" Hermione answered shocked with wide eyes. Ron awkwardly began scratching behind his ear as Hermione looked over the situation. She personally didn't see anything wrong with her being on a bed with Ron since he was under the covers and she was on top. However, she did conveniently look over the fact there was a chair only a few feet away.

"There's no way you can deny it now so don't even bother." George said calmly, causing her to glare at him as Ron's ears went red.

"I can deny it and I will since nothing is going on." Hermione retorted, giving no indication that she was planning to move. George scoffed in response and she narrowed her eyes at him before continuing, "The fact we're both on a bed is hardly anything to go on."

"Ha! Did you actually hear what you just said?" George asked lightly, and plunged his hands in his pockets.

"What's gotten into you, George? This isn't like you." Hermione said truthfully.

"More like what's gotten into you? But wait, I don't need to ask that, do I?" He answered, flashing his gaze to Ron. Hermione's anger shot up to complete boiling point as she flushed in embarassment.

"Fuck you." Ron snapped not able to hold himself back anymore.

"Nope, she won't do that. You've done that enough times for the pair of us." He replied grinning. Hermione's hair appeared to crackle with electricity and she was about to respond when George interrupted.

"You know what's really just so fan-fucking-tastic about this, is the fact that she's spending a hell of a lot more time with you in this Hospital Wing than she did with me. Not to mention the fact that all she did with me was study." George stated simply, referring to the time he got hit with the 'Sectumsempra' curse.

Knowing it was pointless to deny the truth, Hermione's cheeks went pink and she tucked her hair behind her ears as she tried to come up with an excuse. When she couldn't, George shook his head in disbelief before saying, "You can't even think of a decent reason can you? Hermione Granger speechless, who would have thought it possible, eh?"

With that, George turned around and briskly stalked out the room.

"George!" She shouted, as he disappeared from sight. She sighed angrily and crossed her arms beneath her chest, flopping back against the bed.

"Aren't you going to go after him?" Ron asked quietly, expecting her to have done.

"Why? Do you think I should?" She snapped, flashing him a cold look.

"No, I was just wondering." He answered, ignoring her tone. She exhaled slowly to calm herself down so she wouldn't continue taking her anger out on him before addressing him again.

"It's his own fault for being such a..." She trailed off, unsure how to finish the sentence without cursing.

"Twat?" He finished, and a small smile spread across her face.

"Not exactly my choice of phrasing but to put it bluntly, yes." She said as the smile vanished. In that moment, she wanted nothing more than to be nothing to George. If he was there, she had no doubt that she would have finished with him.

Ron was unsure about what else he could say so he suggested the only thing he could think of that was ever worth doing.

"Fancy a game of chess?"

"Okay." She answered, glad to have anything that could put her mind off George, and sat up straight. Ron leant down and picked up the chess set off the ground. As soon as he took the lid off, Berengaria immediately grinned.

"Still here I see?" She commented to Hermione. They both would have blushed simultaneously if it hadn't been for the conversation they had just had. Ron still did but a mountain of guilt fell on Hermione, something that went unnoticed by Berengaria since she continued, "You really do make an attractive couple. Not too alike but not too different."

By this point, it looked as if Ron's entire body was about to burst into flame from how red it was but Hermione gave a pointed look towards Berengaria.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Hermione said heatedly. Just who did this woman – well, object - think she was? She'd barely spent a few minutes with Hermione and she was rambling about her love life as if it was her business when it clearly wasn't.

"Well, no offence dear, but you are quite uptight whereas he's very relaxed. You balance eachother out, when you need to relax he can do that for you and when he needs to do work you're there to help. At the same time though, you're both very passionate and stubborn which can be a pitfall occasionally, but really it shows how perfect you are for one another. It's very easy to see, I'm just surprised you can't. Especially since all I've had to go on are overhearing your conversations for the past week." Berengaria explained, thus leaving the pair silent.

Once the information had sunk in for Hermione she tried to think of something to refute it, but couldn't. Everything she had heard was the truth.

She unconciously glanced over at Ron and wasn't sure why her heart started hammering against her chest from simply seeing him. She didn't think it had ever happened before, but quickly realised how much of a lie that was. It had happened a number of times before, she just hadn't been willing to accept it.

While this dawned on her everything else seemed to fit itself into place. It was as if a whirlwind of answers flowed throughout her mind as an explanation for all of her conflicted emotions over the past few months. How she had been so jealous about him and Lavender. How she still wanted to be with him, even when she was furious at him. How she constantly compared him to George. It all made sense, and it was for one simple reason.

"Black or white?" Ron asked, breaking Hermione out of her revelation. She blinked a few times perplexed and ignored how her hands had began sweating.

"Sorry?" She said, as he laid out the last piece. Apparently Berengaria had silenced herself and the rest of the pieces were equally as silent as they waited for the game to begin.

"Do you want to be on the black or white side?" Ron said, and glanced at her expectedly. She quickly understood what he meant and bit her bottom lip, hating how she was suddenly nervous around him.

"To be honest, I don't know the difference." She admitted hesitantly, and he smiled lopsidedly.

"Well, white goes first." He informed her, and she looked down at the board. She tried to think of all the advantages and disadvantages of going first but spent so much time dwelling on it that the pieces grew bored. The knights hopped off their horses and sat down on their assigned squares, as the kings and queens looked longingly at one another. Ron yawned unconciously and started drumming his fingers against the board.

Honestly though, Hermione wasn't really thinking about what side she wanted. She was too plagued by her thoughts about the certain red head sat beside her. Realising she wouldn't be able to play in her state of mind, she gave up.

"I'm sorry, Ron. I just remembered...I have an essay that needs doing and until I do it I won't be able to focus on anything else." She explained, and got off the bed clumsily.

"Oh...okay." He replied, not bothering to mask his disappointment as he started packing it away. Sensing it, she gave him a reassuring smile.

"I promise over the holidays I will." She said, picking her bag up and throwing it over her shoulder.

"I'll make sure you keep that promise." He said, instantly happier and grinned. She reciprocated it and shifted her feet awkwardly.

"Right. I'll see you tomorrow then, on the train?" She suggested, slowly backing away.

"Sure, if I can escape from Lavender." He said, and she sniggered.

"Okay well... bye." She said, hating how awkward she sounded and quickly walked out.

She wasn't sure what it was in that moment that made her realise what she really knew all along. After all, she refused to believe a once inanimate object could cause such a racilisation within her. It was almost comical how long it had taken her to work it out. She felt so foolish from it but could hardly blame herself entirely. It was natural for her to have denied it for so long but now that she was aware of it, she couldn't ignore it anymore since it was so blatantly obvious.

A small stab of guilt hit her from being so short with George when his suspicions were somewhat true. The painful thing about it was that she knew she had to finish with him because of it.

She made her way up to the common room and went straight to the girl's dormitory, knowing she still had some packing to do. When she got there she didn't expect to see Ginny waiting for her on her bed. She glanced up at Hermione from the latest copy of _Quidditch Weekly_ and smiled at her.

"Thought you could use some help." Ginny said a little too optimistically for Hermione's liking. She jumped up and picked up Hermione's suitcase and placed it on the bed. Hermione looked at her suspiciously as she placed her school bag on the floor beside it.

"Ginny." Hermione said seriously, sitting herself down and started taking off her shoes.

"Fine, I ran into George." Ginny admitted, causing Hermione to unintentionally drop her shoe. She didn't want to think what Ginny would do if she believed what George did. Ginny quickly noticed this and sniggered, "Don't worry, I'm not a complete idiot like him."

Letting out a sigh of relief, Hermione walked over to her wardrobe and pulled out the rest of her clothes she needed to pack.

"Seems like you're the only one." She answered, slowly folding up a pair of jeans. Ginny looked over Hermione curiously, finding her composure a bit odd. Hermione rarely didn't show her feelings about something and whenever she didn't, it usually wasn't good.

"It's partially true isn't it? You like Ron." Ginny stated simply, and Hermione pushed down on the pile of clothes in her suitcase. She took a deep breath, finding it strange how hearing something out loud could sound so different from in your head.

Releasing the tension in her shoulders she let out a mumbled, "Yes."

Ginny unconciously did the opposite and went rigid, half expecting Hermione to deny it. Hermione glanced at Ginny to see her back to her as she stiffly picked up a top of hers.

"Glad to see you're admitting it finally." Ginny said dryly.

"Look, I'm sorry Ginny. I know this puts you in an awkward situation but I didn't mean for it to happen - and I'm going to do my best to put it right." Hermione explained, not wanting to have an argument with another Weasley.  
>"How?" Ginny asked flatly, with her back still to her. Hermione bit her lip, knowing what she wanted to do but wasn't sure if she could do it.<p>

"I-I'm going to end it...with George." She said before she could stop herself. It somehow made her decision more conclusive, telling Ginny what she hoped to do. Breaking up with George was the only logical thing to do after all. She couldn't go on being in a relationship with him, knowing she felt a lot more for his brother than him. It wasn't fair to him and she owed him that much at least, regardless of how he had acted recently.

"Can't say I didn't see it coming. You were an odd couple from the start." Ginny said, finally turning around to look Hermione in the eye.

"I suppose." Hermione said non-commitally. She thought back over their relationship and had to admit that Ginny's words were true. Her and George were just too different to have ever worked as a couple. It was shocking that it had managed to last as long as it did since she had never really pictured a future with George nor planned it.

"The reason why you're finishing with him is surprising though. I guess you are both kind of perfect for each other. You and Ron, I mean." Ginny said with a small smile, flipping the lid over Hermione's suitcase and zipped it up.

"Really?" Hermione said, out of shock rather than anything else. She never would have thought that Ginny would be so accomodating to the news.

"Well, over the summer I saw the both of you talking in the garden. And I'm not sure why but the two of you just... fitted together." Ginny said, and a small blush rose in Hermione's cheeks, remembering that had been their first conversation. Or argument, however you wanted to put it.

Not wishing for Ginny to notice her reaction, she abruptly changed the subject.

"Why aren't you furious about this?" Hermioned asked. Ginny gave her a pleasant smile as she flopped onto the bed.

"Probably because I'm glad you're finally admitting it." She said lightly, making Hermione frown.

"But what about George?"

"Oh he'll get over it." Ginny said, waving it off. "I doubt he's in love with you as much as he thinks he is. You're actually a rather difficult girl to love Hermione."

Hermione feigned a glare at Ginny as she desperately hoped for the first part of the statement to be true. It did seem plausible after how long she went thinking she had been in love with him when it was now staggeringly obvious how wrong she was.

Ginny grinned back at her and Hermione pulled off the suitcase on her bed so she could sit next to her.

"Thanks Ginny." Hermione said genuinely.

The pair stayed in silence for a few minutes before Hermione said, "Right, have you done your essay for Transfiguration yet?"

Ginny groaned collapsing back onto the bed with her face in her hands.

"Come on Ginny, if you do it now, you won't have to worry about it over the holidays." Hermione insisted, pulling Ginny up by her arms.

"Pathetic attempt Hermione." Ginny said, refusing to move.

"You'll have more spare time then."

"Weak, Granger."

"And since Harry's staying you'll be able to spend more _quality_ time with him."

"Your powers of persuasion astound me sometimes." Ginny said, happily getting up and followed Hermione out. They descended down the staircase and Hermione's eyes found George's. They stared at one another, neither sure of what to do as Ginny glanced between the two of them.

"Might as well get it over and done with." Ginny suggested, and Hermione glanced at her. She gave her a reassuring smile before heading out the portrait hole.

Hermione took a deep breath and determinedly walked over to George, asking him to talk in private. Once he reluctantly agreed, they found an empty classroom and the moment Hermione shut the door he said,

"All right! Before you start having a go at me-"

"I'm not going to." She said calmly, crossing her arms and avoiding his eyes.

"Really?" He said surprised, as his eyebrows shot up.

"There's no point anymore." She answered morosely, and he appeared to be working out what this conversation was leading towards. He blinked a few times as the information sunk in and he leant back against the desk behind him. Hermione stood awkwardly close by as he let out a long breath and he ran a hand down his face. She twiddled her thumbs and tried to think of the right words to say but quickly realised there were no 'right' words.

"Why?" He asked quietly, and her attention immediately shifted towards him. He obviously couldn't bare to look at her as he was staring determinedly at the ground awaiting her response. She swallowed and took a breath.

"Well, we've been falling apart for quite awhile. Neither of us have been happy for so long and I thought we might as well just-" She started, trying to keep her voice level even though a lump was rising in her throat and it felt as if a weight was pressed against her chest.

"-finish it now before anyone gets hurt." He finished with an edge of bitterness in his tone that nearly made her wince. He clenched his fist and closed his eyes as if he was trying to remain calm. "But someone is getting hurt, aren't they? I can't speak for you but this sure as hell isn't great for me."

"I didn't mean it like that." She said, and instinctively took a few steps towards him. "And this is hurting me too, George. I just think we'll be better off apart if what we're going through now is so painful."

He looked as if he wanted to refute her comment but knew it was too true to deny, so he simply remained as he was.

She hesitantly took a few more steps towards him until she was stood by the desk he was leaning on.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly, making him scoff and she bit her lip, immediately regretting what she had said.

"You're sorry? What? Is that supposed to make everything okay now?" He said, laughing cruelly.

"No, I know it's not going to. That's simply how I feel." She stated, doing her best to keep her anger under control. He finally looked at her and they shared a look. She couldn't read his expression but it seemed obvious that he could read hers.

"How do you feel about me?" He asked seriously, and she looked downcast, knowing what she would inevitably have to say. The truth was that she had no idea really how she felt about him, but there was something she was sure of.

"Do you love me?" He asked impatiently, and she felt a lump rise in her throat.

"No." She barely whispered, unable to look at him whilst saying it. Her eyes felt as if they were burning as they filled with tears, but she did her best to swallow them down before asking, "Do you?"

Slightly stunned from not hearing a response, she hesitantly looked at him to see him appearing ashamed of himself. She stared at him expectedly until he shook his head awkwardly.

"No. I thought I did but..." He trailed off, and looked out the window as a form of distraction. In a way, Hermione had been hoping for that answer but now that she got it, she was mainly in shock than anything else.

"I don't know." He let out exasperatedly, "It was just…this thing with you and Ron-"

"I told you a million times, nothing is going on between us." She said, trying not to sound irritable about it.

"- I know you have, but it's weird. When I found out about it and thought it was true, it bothered me. I mean – a brother having it off with your girlfriend would piss anyone off, but it didn't hurt me as much as I thought it should. Don't get me wrong, it fucking hurt to think you and him could do that to me, but I didn't really care that much about the fact it was you, Hermione, that he was with. It was just because you were my girlfriend and he was my brother which was the reason why it hurt. Does that make sense?" He explained, and looked at her slightly apprehensively. She nodded her head, understanding completely.

"I think we both loved the idea of eachother more than we actually loved eachother as people." She said, and a small sad smile spread across his face in agreement.

"Guess this is it then." He commented, and a lump rose in her throat her again for some reason. Even though she didn't love him, that didn't mean she didn't care about him or about what they had together. Now that it was ending, it was rather sad that it was. She had hoped and tried to make their relationship work so badly that it was quite depressing that all that time and effort had gone to waste.

"You know what's funny, I sort of expected this to happen. With everything that's happened recently with Ron-"

"This isn't about him." Hermione interrupted honestly. She knew she would have done this eventually even if she hadn't met Ron and she didn't want George blaming him.

"Sure it isn't." George answered sarcastically, and stood up.

"Don't do that! This is about you and me, nothing else." She said pointedly, watching him pace around.

"It's true though, isn't it? Even if you not 'actually' together, you still feel something for him, don't you?" He retorted with a slight edge to his tone.

She promised herself she wouldn't lie to him but she wasn't able to admit that he was right, she looked away from him as a tear trailed down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away, hoping he hadn't seen it but when she saw the look on his face, it was evident that he had.

He knew her answer from her guilty expression. He tensed his jaw and he clenched his fists before storming out of the room. Hearing the door slam behind him, she let out a small sob with tears streaming down her cheeks and she put her face in her hands.

She knew on some level that what had just happened between them could have been far worse. After all, she expected him to be a lot more hurt about it than he was. That didn't change the fact though that she had hurt him in a different way. He clearly resented her now for having developed feelings for Ron, which he had every right to be angry about, but it didn't make her feel any less guilty about it.

Through breaking up with George, she could potentially be breaking apart his family too. It seemed as if he still thought her and Ron had been going around his back, so it was plausible that he could be resenting Ron just as much as he was resenting her, which would hurt their family as well. The thought that she could be capable of doing that to such a loving, kind family made her feel disgusted in herself. She suddenly wished she had finished it with George long ago, before she had even developed those feelings for Ron. It would have made everything so much less complicated then it now was.

She didn't know how much time went past as she cried to herself, but it must have been over an hour since the daylight had descended into darkness and the bitter cold began to eat away at her.

"Hermione?" She heard a familiar voice say, and her head whipped around. She hurriedly wiped away at her tears as he hesitantly walked in the room but she couldn't prevent more tears from falling. Seeing her swollen eyes and flushed state though, he knew what she had been doing.

"H-hi Harry." She stammered, using all her strength to hold back from crying more.

"Ginny told me what happened." He said as he sat next to her. Her chin quivered and more tears leaked out. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders awkwardly and she rested her head on his shoulder, letting herself have this moment of weakness.

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><p><strong>A:N Was it cruel of me to leave you waiting two weeks for this chapter considering what happened? It probably was...I wonder how many of you are currently rejoicing :P**

**I don't really know if the whole Chess piece bit is plausible but we've never really been given much info from JK on what the Chess pieces can do so I went with my idea and had a lot of fun with it. Did anyone get the little reference between Richard and Berengaria? *cough* Barbie/Ken *cough* **

**Also I shoved in a little book!Ron/Hermione line for good measure.**

**If you thought this chapter was a long one, wait until the next one! And yes, sorry, but the two week updates are still in place. **

**Thanks for all the reviews again! I just realised it's over 300 now AHHHH!**


	18. Chapter 18

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=_fHoSynoqQk**

**Copy, paste and replace the closed brackets with fullstops.**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 18

Unfamiliar Territories 

"_Nevermind_

_I'll find someone like you_

_I wish nothing but the best for you too_

_Sometimes it lasts in love_

_But sometimes it hurts instead."_

_Someone Like You – Adele_

It didn't surprise Hermione that she barely slept that night. Few people could say that they had broken up with their long-term boyfriend and discovered their true feelings for the said ex boyfriend's brother the day before they were planning to spend the Christmas holidays with them and their family.

Hermione instantly knew she couldn't stay with the Weasley's for the next two weeks. Not only would it be incredibly awkward when everyone realised she was no longer with George (which they inevitably would), but to become such a burden to them during a time that was meant for family would be unforgivable.

After Harry had comforted her, she knew she had to go home for Christmas. When she told Harry this, he instantly offered her to use Hedwig but there was the slight problem that her parents were currently in the Alps skiing.

When Hermione had told them she planned to stay with the Weasley's over the holidays, they saw no reason in waiting until the holidays for their trip and had gone a week earlier. They had let Hermione know about their plans and she had seen no problem with it.

Of course now, that was a different story. Hermione knew it would take a few days for Hedwig to get back with a response from her parents which would clearly be too late. She quickly realised the only thing she could do was wait until she was back in the Muggle world so she would be able to call them and work out what she could do from there.

Despite the wonders Hogwarts did hold, Hermione couldn't deny how frustrating it was that it didn't accomodate Muggle technology. Everything would have been so much simpler if she could have just called them straight away.

Hermione didn't expect that her parents would have too much of an issue with her change of her plans. She'd spent most of her holidays with them before. Admittedly, in her second year she hadn't because she was busy brewing the Polyjuice Potion, and in her fourth she'd stayed because of the Yule Ball. Aside from that though, the only real time she spent away from them out of her own choice were the last weeks of the most recent summer holidays, and the summer in her fifth year when she had spent a few days at Grimmauld Place with Harry and Sirius.

She remembered how glad she had been that it was only a few days because of how horrid the house had been and how she had felt as if she were imposing. During her stay, there had only been one Order meeting so for the majority of the time, it had been just the three of them. It had been slightly awkward since she thought Harry and Sirius would have preferred to spend more of their time alone together. Sirius had essentially been a father figure to Harry and they'd clearly wanted to get to know eachother better.

She also remembered how she had fretted over her own parents being alone without her for those few days. The house had had several protective enchantments over it and a Ministry official had been patrolling every night since the start of that summer, but she still couldn't help but worry at the time. It was that thought of her parents that reminded her of the problem she was currently in.

If she knew them at all, they'd probably be glad that she wanted to stay with them and would either come home or organise a way of her travelling over to them. She knew they wouldn't necessarily be pleased with her for it, but they'd never force her to go to the Burrow. At least, she hoped they wouldn't.

* * *

><p>The train ride to King's Cross Station was painfully slow. News of her and George's split had gotten out unnaturally quickly, even for Hogwarts' standards and the rumours were already spreading.<p>

One rumour was that he had beaten up Harry since she'd allegedly broken up with him because she actually loved her best friend. Another rumour was that he'd tried breaking into the Dungeons to beat up Ron for it. While plausible, Hermione knew this not to be true since Ginny had confirmed to her that a different rumour was actually the truth. However, it was so anti-climatic that it was no wonder people had started making up different stories to compensate for it.

After he left the classroom they had been in, he had gone straight to the boy's dormitories in an attempt to calm down. Fred had seen the state he was in and instantly went up with him. George had then explained what had happened before saying he wanted to get some sleep. Fred did as he asked, and apparently that was all he did. He just slept.

Most people were fairly surprised by the news of the break up. It had gotten to the stage where everyone assumed that her and George were going to stay together for forever, despite how noticeable it was that they had been quite distant with one another for sometime.

Either way, all Hermione could hope for was that the talk about it would have died down after the holidays. She was already getting tired of it and had only been suffering from it for a few hours. Luckily, Harry and Ginny had found the three of them an empty compartment at the back of the train so they remained quite inconspicuous.

Hermione had been trying to get through the assigned chapters she had to read for Charms as a way of taking her mind off of things and it had worked, for a couple of sentences maybe. Due to her lack of sleep though, she could barely focus on the scenery through the window, let alone on the words laid out on the page in front of her.

Harry and Ginny had respected her wishes about not wanting to talk and sat closely entwined on the seat opposite her. The soft murmuring between the pair was the only reason that the compartment wasn't filled in an unpleasant silence.

"Here you are! I've been looking for you for ages." Ron exclaimed, after throwing open the compartment door, successfully breaking Hermione out of her thoughts. He grinned at her and glanced over at Harry and Ginny, apparently just realising their presence. "Oh. Hey Gin, Harry."

He frowned at the way Ginny was sat on Harry's lap with their legs tangled together, but he managed to hold his tongue when he caught the harsh glare Ginny gave him. He instead gave a very forced smile as Hermione lowered her book away from her face.

"I thought you'd be with Lavender." Hermione said quietly, determinedly avoiding Ron's gaze. She tried to ignore the way her heart swelled at the thought he had chose to be with her instead of his girlfriend.

"Oh yeah, managed to escape saying I had to patrol the train. Just hope she doesn't realise it's actually some Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw." Ron explained, with his eyes still fixed on Harry and Ginny. Harry had the decency to try and sit by Ginny's side but she remained fixed upon him, obviously trying to demonstrate a point. Instead, he shrunk in his seat and stared outside the window.

Ron managed to pull his eyes off them to look at Hermione, only to have his frown deepen at the sight.

"Are you all right? No offence, but you look bloody awful." Ron said concerned, causing Hermione to finally look at him. She was so surprised that he hadn't heard about what had happened that his comment didn't even effect her. She swallowed, suddenly getting a dry throat from seeing the worry etched on his face.

"Haven't you heard?" She asked, as Harry and Ginny shared a look with one another.

"Urr, no. Should I have?" Ron answered perplexed.

"We're just going to go to the food trolley." Harry announced, standing up. "Do you two want anything?"

"No thank you, Harry." Hermione said with a grateful smile.

"Actually I wouldn't mind -" Ron started, but seeing the look Ginny shot him he finished with, "No, nothing for me either. Thanks."

Harry and Ginny quickly exited, closing the compartment door behind them. Immediately, Ron's attention went back to Hermione, who was keeping her eyes downcast. She took a deep breath.

"George and I broke up." She stated, thinking it was best to get it out in the open as quickly as possible. She really had no idea how Ron would respond to the news. Given the recent accusations George had thrown his way, Ron would undoubtedly still be annoyed at him but that didn't change the fact they were still brothers. When you took into account how close-knit the Weasley family was as well, it wouldn't surprise her if Ron chose to never speak to her again.

Not hearing a response, she hesitantly looked up at him to see him look more shocked than anything else. She couldn't be sure, since it could have been wishful thinking, but she could have sworn he looked the tiniest bit relieved as well.

"R-really? I mean – no, I hadn't heard." Ron said awkwardly, and scratched the back of his head. "That's good though, right? You said you weren't happy and everything."

A blush began working up his neck and her eyebrows rose slightly at him remembering she said that. She'd mentioned that over a week ago when she was healing him from Malfoy's attack. He had been in so much pain that she was surprised he remembered their conversation at all, let alone details of it.

"Yes, I suppose." She said quietly, and Ron's blush increased as he began worrying if he had said the wrong thing.

"It was you that finished things, wasn't it?" He asked hesitantly, and she nodded her head.

"That doesn't mean I feel any less guilty about it though." She admitted grimly.

"You shouldn't. He treated you like shite." Ron said defensively, edging closer to her.

"You didn't see him last night. I felt so terrible about what I was doing." She said, feeling a tug at her chest that caused a lump to rise in her throat.

"He'll get over it." Ron said strongly, almost desperately.

"I can't believe how much of a bitch I was to him." She snapped, remembering how over the past few months she had taken out so much of her anger on him.

"Hey, don't talk about yourself like that." Ron said instantly, and moved so close to her that their legs were touching.

"And why shouldn't I?" Hermione snapped, flashing her head around to look at Ron. "I was horrible to him and why? Because I was in denial about our relationship. I selfishly thought I could change him into the person I wanted him to be when I shouldn't have had to. I should have liked him for who he was but I didn't, and I refused to admit that for the longest time. Then when I finally did, what do I do? I admit that I – well, I..." She trailed off, not believing she nearly let slip about her true feelings for Ron and a slight blush rose in her cheeks. Ron appeared to be in deep thought before something seemed to jolt in his mind.

"I can bet you were honest though. You knew it would hurt him but in the long run, you knew it would be for the better." Ron said comfortingly, repeating the advice she gave him on how to break-up with Lavender.

A tear seeped out of her eye from his words that she quickly wiped away and she gave him a small grateful smile. He returned it and the pair sat in silence for awhile, alone with their thoughts.

While Hermione was trying to think of anything except her break-up, Ron was doing anything but. His immediate happiness hearing about what she'd done had disappeared almost completely. Seeing the state she was in, she clearly wasn't happy about it. He had meant what he said earlier about her appearance. It was more obvious than a dancing Hippogriff that she had barely slept the night, judging by the bags under her eyes and her pale skin. It didn't help that her hair was twice its usual size (which was saying something) and at any moment, she looked as if she could burst out into tears.

He knew he had to say something to cheer her up. He couldn't let her fall to pieces. More importantly, he wouldn't allow it.

He desperately tried to think of something to say but, like most times he tried too, nothing came up. He glanced around the compartment and it wasn't until his eyes landed on the door, a sudden vivid memory entered his mind.

"I just remembered, this was where we met." He exclaimed, and she blinked a few times in disbelief.

"What? Really?" She answered, struggling to remember a time when she had formally met Ron aside from her visit to the Burrow. He'd always sort of been in the background, having been in a few of her classes, but she couldn't recall a time when they had shared a conversation before the summer.

"Yeah, I was trying to turn Scabbers yellow and you were looking for someone's cat or something." Ron said grinning, and it all seemed to come rushing back to Hermione, making a geniune smile spread across her face.

"That's right! I was looking for Neville's toad and you were here with Harry." Hermione said, as the smile slowly slipped off her face.

Even then, before Ron was put into Slytherin, she had pushed him aside like everybody else. She had seen Harry and went straight to him, not caring about Ron in the slightest. She couldn't believe how insensitive she had been. It was no wonder he had been so insecure all these years, if people had been treating him like she did his entire life.

Apparently, Ron had forgotten this minor detail though as he was still beaming fondly at the memory.

"You were such a pain in the arse back then." He commented lightly, quickly making all her guilt vanish.

"Oh shut up!" She snapped, playfully hitting his arm. He chuckled at her weak attempt of violence.

"Seriously though, you have to admit you were. Acting all high and mighty compared to us mere mortals." He joked, and a reluctant smile broke through her features. "I think I actually said to Harry that I hoped whatever house I was in that you weren't in it."

The smiles quickly dropped off their faces as the undeniable truth of the statement sunk in. Ron awkwardly started picking at a loose thread on his slightly too small jumper and Hermione tucked her hair behind her ears.

"Even said to Harry that I couldn't bare to think what would happen if I were put in Slytherin." Ron muttered bitterly, snapping the thread off his jumper.

"Ron," Hermione started sympathetically, trying to think of a way to comfort him. "You know, Harry was nearly put in Slytherin."

That seemed to gain his attention. However, his astonishment quickly dissolved into disbelief.

"You don't have to lie to me to make me feel better, Hermione." Ron snapped angrily, and she scowled at him.

"And since when have I ever lied to you? Ron, I'm telling the truth. The Sorting Hat wanted to put Harry into Slytherin and the reason it didn't was because Harry asked it not to." Hermione explained, making Ron snort.

"Cheers, is that meant to make me feel better? The fact it listened to Harry but not me." Ron retorted, finding another thread on his jumper to pull at.

"You mean you asked it to put you into Gryffindor?" She asked surprised, thinking it would have worked for Ron considering it had for Harry.

The thread snapped off Ron's jumper again.

"What? Did you think I was too stupid not to ask it to put me in Gryffindor?" He spat, turning to glare at her.

"No, I was just-" She denied immediately, sensing what was about to happen between her and Ron.

"I didn't just _ask_ for it to put me in Gryffindor, I practically _begged_ for it too."

"RON!" Hermione shouted, knowing that was the only way she could prevent an argument from brewing. "I wasn't surprised that you asked it, I was just surprised that asking it had worked for Harry and not you!"

"Oh. Right."

Ron's ears turned a light tinge of pink while the train came to a halt. They both looked out the window and were surprised to see they had arrived at Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Despite this, they quickly began sorting out their belongings when Harry and Ginny returned to pick up their stuff.

The four of them managed to get off the train safely and when they caught sight of the rest of the Weasleys they stopped walking. Hermione could tell that it was George, not Fred, that had his back to her and she tried not to feel grateful that she didn't have to see his broken expression before leaving. Although, the feeling certainly went away when she saw the look of complete loathing that Molly sent her way.

This wasn't helped with Draco walking past them with Blaise.

"At least we'll have a holiday worth having, Blaise. Unlike some people, we actually have a family to go home too. Not to mention a decent home as well." Draco bragged, causing both Ron and Harry to clench their fists.

"Oh yes!" Ginny said, "I am looking forward to actually being at home for Christmas, instead of visiting father dearest in Azkaban."

Draco looked ready to storm over when Narcissa called for him. He reluctantly went towards her as her eyes flickered between Ron, Ginny, Harry and Hermione.

"You really shouldn't have said that, Ginny." Hermione reprimanded, sighing. Ginny shrugged her shoulders in response making Harry snigger.

"See you after the holidays, Hermione." Harry said smiling, giving her a slightly awkward hug.

"What? Aren't you coming with us?" Ron said abruptly, his eyes wide. Ginny rolled her eyes as she hugged Hermione.

"Ron, you didn't expect her to stay with us after she broke up with George, did you?" Ginny said, while pulling away from Hermione and gave Ron a playful smile. He scowled at her but she ignored it as her attention was back on Hermione. "See you soon Hermione. I'll send you your present, all right?"

Hermione nodded and said goodbye to Harry and Ginny before they made their way over to the rest of the Weasleys. When she turned to look at Ron, she held back on smiling at his irritated expression.

"Does nobody tell me anything?" He mumbled to himself so quietly that she didn't hear him.

"Well, I guess you better head over to your family." She said, not entirely sure how she was going to say goodbye. It didn't help that she was aware of the audience they had and she couldn't bare to think about the amount of glares that were being sent her away.

It suddenly dawned on Ron what was actually happening and it quickly hit him that he wasn't going to see her for two weeks. While that was a short amount of time, he wasn't sure what he was going to do. He had gotten so used to seeing her everyday that he didn't want to think about how odd it was going to be to not see her. The only time they hadn't seen eachother was after he had started going out with Lavender and they'd gone weeks without speaking.

Remembering how dreadful that had been, he blurted out the first thing that came into his head,

"Are you sure you can't stay? I mean, it'd be a little awkward but it'll be fine. You're more than welcome."

She smiled, feeling her stomach fill with warmth but shook her head.

"You know I can't, Ron. It'd be completely unethical and not to mention disrespectful towards your family." Hermione said, for the first time wondering why she always did the right thing instead of what she truly wanted to do.

"But you promised." He whined. If he hadn't sounded like such a child, the statement probably would have broke her heart.

"I can't, Ron. I can't do that to _him_." Hermione said, knowing they both knew who she was referring too.

"Okay, but what are you going to do? Where are you going to stay? You said your parents are away skidding or something." Ron rambled, and Hermione couldn't stop the small laugh that escape from her lips.

"They're skiing. I was going to get hold of them and discuss what I was going to do. They'd either come back here or find a way for me to travel over to them." Hermione quickly explained.

"But, that could take hours with Muggle transportation! Maybe even the whole night! What are you going to do until then?" He asked strictly, and she had to blink a few times to make sure this was Ronald Weasley she was speaking too. He was acting so concerned about her that it was making it very difficult to keep her heart beating at a normal pace.

"I do have a home I can go to. I don't necessarily need my parents to be there." She said casually, and Ron opened his mouth to say something only to close it instantly. He was beginning to run out of ideas.

"But you can't stay somewhere by yourself! Given the dark times we're in, you're more of a target than anyone!" He said desperately.

"Which is why the Ministry put up several protective enchantments over my house in the summer and I was told they were the exact same ones that had been placed over your house at the start of our fifth year." She explained calmly, and Ron let out a groan.

He couldn't help feeling resentment over the summer before his fifth year. Due to Voldemort's return, they had been restricted to staying at the house at all times and were only allowed out when they had to travel to Hogwarts. They were still able to go outside in the garden because the protective enchantments had been stretched out a few miles around the house, but they couldn't risk going any further. Of course, his parents could still go out as they pleased, that rule was only applied to him and his siblings.

Ron quickly remembered about the situation he was in and so, as a last resort in persuading Hermione to stay, he asked her, "What about food?"

"Ronald!" They heard Molly shout, unintentionally making Hermione tense, "We don't have all day!"

"But mum! She doesn't have anywhere to go!" Ron answered back, refusing to leave his spot, "Her parents don't even know she's not staying with us!"

"Ron." Hermione said in a warning tone, but he ignored her.

"She has a home to go to, doesn't she? And I'm sure she has plenty of relatives that she can stay with." Molly retorted angrily, and Hermione tried not to take her resentment to heart. It had only been a few months ago that Molly adored her but then again, she hadn't recently just broken the heart of one of her son's.

"Yeah but shouldn't we, or at least someone, stay with her until her parents come back? They're in a different country! We can't exactly leave her on her own."

Hermione gave Ron a cold look at the implied message that she couldn't take of herself. When she didn't hear Molly answer back, Hermione hesitantly turned around, expecting Arthur to be talking rationally to her. Instead, it appeared as if it was George.

Hermione instantly turned back around, biting her bottom lip to stop herself from welling up. After everything she put him through, a part of him still cared about her.

"Oh all right!" Molly exclaimed, "Ron, you can stay with her until her parents arrive, but the moment they're back you're to come straight home. Understand?"

"Y-yeah, sure." Ron said, just as surprised as Hermione that Molly had given in. He hurriedly gave them his trunk to take back with them, unaware that George had apparated away so he wouldn't have to look at him.

"Now, that should be enough to get you home on the Night Bus. As soon as you find out how long it'll be until her parents are back you're to owl us, understand?" Molly instructed, and he was about to point out that Hermione didn't have an owl when Harry handed Hedwig in her cage to him.

Hermione couldn't help the small blush that rose in her cheeks at the prospect of spending time with Ron outside of school. Her stomach filled with butterflies at the thought of what they could do together, but she couldn't help feeling ashamed of herself for taking such pleasure in it. The only reason the situation had risen was because she was no longer with George.

"You ready?" Ron said beaming, and she glanced at him. The butterflies returned in her stomach at a more rapid pace, seeing how he looked as happy as she felt.

"Yes, we should probably go to my house my first so I can call my parents and drop these things off." She said, picking up her trunk as they began walking, "We'll have to get a taxi though. It's not too far but given Hedwig's with us, the less people that see us with her, the better."

"Brilliant, I've never been in a taxi before." Ron said excitedly, making a smile spread across her features. It seemed as if the smallest things about the Muggle world were going to impress Ron.

They were just in front of the barrier when they caught sight of Narcissa and Draco, who appeared to be having an argument.

"It was imperative you told us anything and everything." She snapped, and he sighed.

"I know, I just didn't think it was _that_ important. I've been a bit busy focussing on other things, haven't I?" He retorted, and they both seemed to become aware of Ron and Hermione's presence.

Without another word, Narcissa walked through the barrier pulling Draco along with her. Once Ron and Hermione had gone through as well, the Malfoys were nowhere in sight.

"That was strange." Hermione said suspiciously, looking around the crowd for any sight of them.

"Not really. Mummy dearest hasn't been happy with him for awhile." Ron said, thinking nothing of it. He handed Hedwig's cage to Hermione and instead picked up her trunk.

"What do you mean?" She asked, as they made their way out of the station.

"Just that she doesn't like what he's doing. I don't really know what but he's been complaining about her being too protective or something. Says he doesn't need people looking out for him." Ron said.

For some reason Hermione remembered a conversation she had with Harry a while ago causing her to ask, "Ron, this may sound odd, but has Draco been doing anything abnormal recently?"

"Don't know. Haven't noticed anything that weird, but I guess he's been spending more time on his own than usual. Why'd you ask?" He said, glancing over at her.

"Harry reckons he's up to something." She informed him.

"Oh, well, umm - I don't really know if he would be." He reluctantly admitted. They walked a few metres until she spoke up,

"Listen, Ron. I don't suppose that when we get back you'd be able to keep a closer eye on him, would you?" She asked, taking Ron by surprise. He blinked a few times before shrugging his shoulders.

"I guess, why?"

Hermione quickly told Ron all of Harry's suspicions about Draco and by the end of it, it seemed as if he shared her opinion on Draco rather than Harry's.

"Yeah, truthfully Hermione, Malfoy's been bragging about being a Death Eater since he entered Hogwarts. It's not like anyone can just become one either. My dad heard a lot about them through the Ministry and it's only You Know Who's most loyal followers that even become one. Malfoy's mum isn't even one and she's probably as dedicated as anyone." Ron explained, as they walked outside.

"That's what I thought." Hermione agreed.

"But I'll let you know if anything weird does happen."

"Thanks Ron, I really appreciate it."

They went over to the taxi bay and managed to get into one fairly quickly as their conversation about the Malfoys was put into the back of their minds.

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><p>On the way to Hermione's house, it was hard to keep Ron under control. He was hardly hiding the fact he had never visited the Muggle world with him virtually pointing at everything in sight while demanding to know what it did,<p>

"What are those different coloured spots?"

"They're traffic lights, Ron. They indicate when people can-"

"What's that called?"

"It's a theatre. People perform various-"

"Why is there a big clock?"

"It's a famous landmark. It's called Big Ben, it-"

"Oh, what does that shop sell?"

"It sells these things called CDs, they play music."

"Why are there white markings on the floor?"

The questions were endless. Hermione couldn't help smiling at the sight, realising Ron was definitely Arthur Weasley's son. She was glad that the driver had opted to have the radio on so he wasn't able to hear Ron. No doubt he would have been baffled at how someone didn't even know what a film was.

When they made it to Hermione's house, she paid the slightly extortionate price for the taxi with the set of Muggle money she always took with her to Hogwarts and her and Ron made their way inside. The moment she closed the door and flicked the lights on, more questions were flooding her way.

"Woah, how'd you make it light? What's that box thing? What's this thing against the wall? Why don't your photos move like normal?"

Hermione sighed, having moved past the point of finding Ron's interest amusing, and ran a hand through her hair as they walked into the living room.

"I made it light because we have electricity. The box thing is a television which plays films and programmes, which I told you about earlier. The thing against the wall is a reighdiator, it keeps the house warm. And our pictures don't move because Muggle cameras aren't as advanced as wizarding ones.

"Now, could you give me just a few minutes to call my parents without badgering on at me?" She said heatedly, and he had the decency to look guilty for a few minutes as his ears turned red.

"Sure, sorry. Can I just see what the box thing does?" He said, referring to the television and she rolled her eyes.

"Fine, just don't make it too loud." She answered, ignoring the perplexed look he gave her, and picked up the phone hanging on the wall. She pulled out the notebook she had written her parents contact information in and dialled the number for their hotel room.

Once she had been connected, her heart rate increased in anticipation with every dial tone. She slightly regretted how she hadn't thought of what to say before deciding to ring them, but she could hardly put the phone down since her mother picked up.

"Hello." Her mother, Audrey, greeted skeptically.

"Hi mum." Hermione greeted, in a painfully overdone cheery tone, twirling the phone line with her finger awkwardly.

"H-Hermione? My goodness, this is a surprise. How are you?" Audrey responded happily.

"Well, I – urr..." Hermione trailed off, having no idea how to respond. It wasn't very often she had to admit something to her parents that put her in a negative light.

"Hermione? Is everything all right? Aren't you supposed to be staying with George and his family?" Audrey asked anxiously.

"I was but-"

Suddenly, Hermione jumped as a booming voice erupted out of nowhere. She turned towards Ron and placed her hand over the mouth piece on the phone. Ron was hastily pressing at all the buttons on the television, having no idea how to turn it down.

"Ron!" Hermione shouted, and he whipped his head around.

"Sorry! I thought the button turned it on, but it didn't this other one did and it must have made it louder and I umm." A blush was working its way up his neck and into his cheeks.

"Just press the button that has a horizontal line on it!" She snapped, and he quickly started pressing on it. "No, no, the other one that looks the same!" She instructed, as he had been flicking through channels. He managed to find the right button and he quickly turned it down, shooting an apologetic look her way.

"Hermione!" Audrey shouted, reminding Hermione she was still on the phone, "What was that about? Isn't Ron one of George's brothers? What's he doing there?"

"Mum, me and George have sort of, umm, well – we're not together anymore." Hermione said, beginning to twirl the phone line again. "It happened last night, and I just couldn't stay with his family over Christmas. I couldn't put them in that position and there wasn't enough time for me to send you a letter, so I came home."

"Oh my... couldn't you have called us last night?" Audrey asked.

"I would have but Muggle technology doesn't work within Hogwarts." Hermione said simply.

"Oh that's right. What's Ron doing there then?"

"Well, he just wanted to make sure I got home safely and got in touch with you all right. If worst came to worse I could have always gone back with him to the Burrow for one night."

"Yes, that does make sense." Audrey said slowly, obviously trying to think of a way to fix the problem Hermione had put her in.

"I'm so sorry, mum. I don't want to put you and dad in any kind of trouble, I just-" Hermione began apologising.

"It's okay, Hermione, I can understand why you wouldn't want to spend Christmas with the Weasleys. You're too polite for your own good sometimes." Audrey said, chuckling nervously. Hermione bit her bottom lip.

"I can always stay with Aunt Maria for a couple of days until you get back. I'm sure she'd be okay with it-" Hermione suggested.

"No, no. It's all right, we were actually thinking of coming home early anyway. Charlotte and Paul pulled out at the last minute and your father and I were beginning to get a bit bored with skiing anyway." Audrey explained. Hermione could tell that her mum wasn't exactly telling the truth, since she'd often make something up so Hermione wouldn't feel guilty.

"Thank you so much, mum. I am really sorry about all of this." Hermione apologised again.

"Don't fret, darling. We'll find out when the next available flight is and we'll call you, letting you know when we're back." Audrey said reassuringly, making Hermione smile.

"Okay, thanks again, mum."

"No worries, speak to you soon. We love you."

"Love you too."

Audrey put the phone down and Hermione let out a breath she didn't realise she had been holding in as she placed the phone back on the handset. She could tell the worst was about to come. While her mother had been incredibly sympathetic and understanding, her father would be the exact opposite.

She looked over at Ron, who had somehow not seen the sofas in the room and had chosen to sit directly in front of the television cross legged. She couldn't help laughing at the sight and he hesitantly looked back at her, not wishing to take his eyes off the images on the screen. Seeing her laughing, a smile of his own spread across his face.

"I have no idea what this is, but I like it." He said, stumbling to his feet. She shook her head in disbelief, still chuckling.

"Are you hungry?" She asked, knowing the answer she would get.

"Bloody starving."

They made their way into the kitchen from the living room as Ron continuously looked all around him.

"Your house is so brilliant." He said awestruck, walking into the pristine kitchen.

Hermione opened the fridge door with Ron directly behind her. He eagerly leant over her so he could see inside the fridge better. He was so tall that he could do this with Hermione still standing up right and if it hadn't been for their close proximity, she would have laughed at the oddity of someone finding a fridge fascinating.

Since they were close though, she could feel his front against her back and the heat radiated from his body to her own. She began to flush as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up and shivers crept up her spine. Her heart was hammering against her chest and she unconciously began chewing on her bottom lip.

Ron was completely oblivious to her state as he simply asked, "So - what are we having?"

She swallowed and glanced over the few items in the fridge.

"This is all probably out of date. We'll have to get something from the freezer." She announced, moving away from him. She was suddenly very aware of how cold she quickly became without him near her. She lifted the lid to the freezer and looked around at the items. "Okay, so we could have some pizza. Oh there's some chips as well if you're really hungry, which lets face it you probably are."

Not hearing an answer, she looked over at him to see his completely baffled expression.

"I have no idea what you just said."

She held back a laugh because of how serious he sounded.

"Well, after living off Bertie's Botts Every Flavour Beans for most of your life, I think you can risk trying this food out." Hermione said, making Ron chuckle.

"Got that right, nothing seems to taste quite as bad after having a vomit flavoured bean." Ron admitted, causing Hermione to grimace as she put the oven on.

"Remind me to never try a Bertie Botts Bean without you there." She said, pulling the pizza out of a box.

"I'll make sure of that." He answered, grinning.

While they waited for the food to cook, Hermione gave Ron a brief tour of the house. She'd never seen anything wrong with where she lived, but then she'd never seen anything spectacular about it either. After going to the Burrow, she realised how her own home paled in comparison. It wasn't because there was no magic to it. It was because there was no warmth to it. Everything was a sea of cream and beige with all the furniture in perfect coordination so in theory, it was an amazing house. When something is flawless though, there's almost always something decidedly undesirable about it and her house definitely fit into that description.

She opened the door to her bedroom to see it in the exact same state she left it in.

"Should I even be surprised with the amount of books that are in here?" He commented, seeing every shelf in her room was full with them and she even had some stacked on the floor against the wall. He walked in and knelt on her double bed so he could glance at the selection of books above it. "_Dracula, Tess of the-_ okay, I have no idea what that says."

"_D'Urbervilles._" Hermione corrected with a small smile, sitting on the edge of her bed behind him.

"_Jane _'Eerie'?"

"_Eyre"_

"_Great Expectations, Alice in Wonderland_. I haven't heard of any of these." He admitted, still reading the rest of the titles.

"That's probably because they're considered to be classic Muggle novels." She answered.

"Oh, I should have known you'd sort out your books into genre. I'm surprised you haven't alphabetised them as well." He said, turning his head back to see her reaction. She rolled her eyes, choosing not to say that she had been meaning to alphabetise them.

"_Brother's Grimm: The Complete Fairytales_. That sounds dreadfully cheerful." Ron commented.

"Actually, you might like that. It has hundreds of short stories which are meant for children-" She started, kneeling beside him so she could pick up the book.

"Ah yes, children's book so you instantly thought of me?" He interrupted with a playful smile causing her to give him stern look.

"I thought it would interest you because it shows how Muggles view magic." She explained, sitting back on her legs and glanced over the contents page. "You'd be surprised at how different it is."

"How long is it? Normal-short or Hermione-short?" He joked, causing her to look up at him over the book to glare at him.

"That depends, what's the difference?" She asked dryly.

"Normal-short is a few pages, Hermione-short...give or take a couple hundred pages." He said chuckling. She intensified her glare.

"Most of them are only two or three pages long, if that." She said.

"Fine, just one." He sighed, moving so he was leaning against the headboard with his legs laid out in front of him. Hermione adjusted herself so she was sat cross-legged next to him.

"Okay, this one is called _Brier Rose_, but it's more commonly known as 'Sleeping Beauty'. Interestingly, there are several versions of it-"

"Maybe I should hear one of them before you start rambling on about the others then?" He suggested lightly, and she playfully hit his arm before beginning to read,

"_In times of old there lived a king and queen, and every day..."_

It didn't take Hermione long to finish reading since she had been truthful in saying it had been a 'normal-short' length. When she did however, it didn't take Ron a second to give his opinion.

"Muggle fairytales are fucking stupid."

"Language, Ronald." Hermione snapped.

"Well they are! I mean if the parents knew she could have died by pricking her finger or whatever then why leave her by herself the day she turns fifteen. Even I'm not that stupid." He said angrily, folding his arms on his chest.

"I won't deny that's a good point, but they knew she wouldn't have actually died because the last fairy cast the spell so she'd sleep for a hundred years instead." Hermione reminded him knowledgably.

"Oh yeah." He said, forgetting that point.

"Besides, didn't you find how different the spells are compared to ours fascinating?" Hermione said eagerly, and Ron shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't know, what were they again?" He questioned.

"They cast spells that gave her beauty-"

"That's possible though with glamour charms and stuff." He said smugly. He was quite proud that he could come up with such an informative response.

"Yes, but it's not a permanent enchantment which is what the story suggested it did. I mean, they cast the spell on her when she was a baby so she could become beautiful. There's no spell that does that." She said, so all his previous pride floated away.

"Suppose you're right." He said.

"Then there are the other spells that gave her virtues, such as kindness and sensibility. Do you not find it interesting that Muggles think magic can alter one's personality like that?" She asked enthusiastically.

"I guess, but the spells might not have actually worked." He said truthfully.

"How do you mean?" She questioned with visible less enthusiasm.

"Well maybe the girl-"

"Brier Rose."

"-Brier Rose then, maybe she just happened to grow up that way. Maybe she would have turned out kind and sensible even if they hadn't performed those spells." He said, and Hermione thought over her answer as she adjusted her sitting position so she had her legs laid out in front of her like him.

"I think the fairytale was trying to prove the point that Brier Rose didn't actually deserve the death sentence that had been given to her, because the other spells were hinting at the good person she would become."

"Yeah, that's another thing! Wouldn't it have been helpful for her parents to - you know - just mention perhaps that she shouldn't touch a spinning wheel on her fifteenth birthday since she could die? If they had, then they wouldn't have been asleep all those years." He said, sounding genuinely annoyed.  
>"That would sort of defeat the whole plot of the story though. Anyway, why do you keep on faulting the parents all the time? Maybe they had told her and she'd forgotten because she's stupid." Hermione retorted with just as much anger in her tone.<br>"Wouldn't one of those fairies at the beginning have given her a spell to be smart though?" He answered back, proving a valid point.

"It doesn't say." Hermione said disheartedly.

"Doubt they wouldn't though. Shouldn't the heroine of a story be intelligent?" He said casually.

"Is that something you regard highly then? Intelligence?" She asked, not entirely sure why she was asking him.

"Yeah I guess, be a bit boring to hang around with someone who couldn't put a sentence together." He said casually, obviously thinking nothing of her comment.

Hermione couldn't have explained why, but her heart started beating wildly learning that he clearly liked intelligence in a woman. Well, after she thought about it, it made perfect sense really. She considered herself to be intelligent and knowing that Ron found that attractive...

Although, that did raise the question about why he was with Lavender. It was no secret the girl was an utter moron. Then again, he did want to break up with her.

Maybe Hermione was reading too much into his statement. He'd only said he'd get bored if he couldn't have a conversation with a girl. They did talk a lot though. That was virtually all they did when they were together.

As luck would have it, the phone started ringing, breaking her train of thought.

* * *

><p>When she returned to her room, she caught Ron crouched on the floor looking through a pile of her books. She couldn't help laughing at the sight of him searching for a book to read, it was a rare sight to see. He glanced up, hearing her.<p>

"Hey, was that your mum?" He asked, placing the books back in the pile they had been in.

"Yes, there's a plane in a couple of hours that they'll be getting on. It'll probably take around two hours to get back to England but then it'll take another hour to actually get home." She explained, re-organising the books he had put back into their original order.

"Oh right, so we still have a fair bit of time then." He summed up, to which she nodded in agreement.

"They won't be back until gone midnight. I hope your mum won't mind you staying out so late. Maybe you should leave at ten in case."

"No. I'll send a letter now and she'll be fine with it. It probably won't arrive until then anyway so she won't be able to argue about it." He said lightly.

"Ron, I really don't want to get you into any kind of trouble." She said wearily.

"I won't be though. Got any parchment?" He said, and she sighed. She didn't say anything else about it as she got out some parchment, ink and a quill, because there was no point in arguing about it. Truthfully, the more time she got to spend with him, the better.

After Ron had finished his short letter to Molly and sent Hedwig on her way with it, their food was done so Ron quickly sprinted to the kitchen where Hermione immediately piled food onto his plate. They didn't even make it into the dining room as Ron insisted on digging into his food the moment it was handed to him so they were sat on opposite kitchen counters.

"So whab do de ober bersions ov Sweeping Booty hab bats divrent?" He asked with a mouthful of pizza.

"Oh, was that what you were looking for before?" She answered, understanding what he meant to say from plenty of practice. He nodded swallowing and guzzled down half of his glass of orange juice. "It's probably a good thing you didn't. They aren't very pleasant."

"How?" He asked, shoving a few too many chips into his mouth.

"Well in one tale, it's actually a poisonous splinter that causes her to die-" She started.

"Whab abou' ver sweeping spell ting?" He interrupted.

"This one didn't include that. Anyway, her father placed her dead body in a forest when a man hunting discovers it." She said, and he swallowed.

"Yeah, yeah, he kisses her and she wakes up. Lets get married, the end. Boring." He answered, before taking a huge bite of pizza.

"No. He rapes her instead." She said, immediately sending Ron in a coughing fit, "That's not the worst of it. She became pregnant because the splinter actually sent her into a deep sleep, and she gave birth nine months later. Some fairies took care of the children until one day, one of the children mistook her finger for her breast and sucked out the poisonous splinter so she awoke. Months later, the man returned planning to rape her again when he found her awake with the children. He confessed that he raped her and they had sex again willingly. He then returned to his wife-"

"Sounds like quite the charmer." Ron said disgustedly, and Hermione nodded in agreement.

"- and she discovered about his children with Sleeping Beauty. For revenge, she ordered for the children to be kidnapped and be cooked alive-" Ron spat out his drink, "-for the man's dinner. The cook actually lied though since he used a goat instead, and in the end the man left his wife for Sleeping Beauty and they then got married."

Ron was rendered silent for a few minutes.

"And this is a kid's story?" He said, with his eyebrows raised in disbelief.

"Yes. It's vile, I know." She answered, taking a small bite of a chip.

"That's messed up. Necrophilia and cannibalism in a kid's story. Can't wait to tell dad about that." Ron said, laughing slightly at the thought.

"Of course, that's not the most popular version." She said hastily.

"Really? I can't think why!" He said sarcastically, and she shook her head in disbelief. He finished the last of his food and placed it in the sink next to him. "Well, Muggle stories are disgusting but their food is anything but."

"That's good to know." Hermione replied sniggering.

"Don't suppose you've got anything else to eat?" He asked hesitantly, and she rolled her eyes.

"I thought you'd say that but I'm afraid not. We could nip out to the shops once I'm done."

"Great, can we watch some telebision after as well?"

"Television, and I don't see why not."

With Ron's assistance it didn't take Hermione very long to finish, so it was in no time at all that they were walking inside the local supermarket. Hermione picked up a basket and was about to start walking when she noticed Ron was stood completely still with his mouth agape.

"Ron, are you feeling all right?" Hermione asked, slightly bemused. He took a few tentative steps forward while turning around in a circle.

"I must be dreaming." He said, sounding completely awestruck as he continued turning around on the spot. Hermione stifled a laugh at the sight of him.

"Okay, come on Ron. We don't want to attract attention." She said, starting to walk ahead of him but he remained exactly where he was. She sighed and without thinking, took hold of his forearm dragging him along behind her. He didn't seem to notice as he started looking directly up at the ceiling.

"It's so bright! Hermione, why's it so bright in here?" He asked, taking his eyes off the lights. "And now I'm seeing black dots."

"That's what happens when you stare at lights for too long." She answered, heading towards the fruit and vegetable aisle. Ron blinked several times, trying to make the dots go away. She glanced back at him noticing how his walking had slowed. She couldn't help snorting at his rapid blinking and how he was beginning to look genuinely scared. "Don't worry, they'll go away in a minute."

When they had gone away, he noticed what aisle they were in.

"Hermione, can we get some food that's more Muggle-y?" He asked, and she frowned while picking up a bag of apples.

"Muggle-y?" She questioned, raising an eyebrow up at him.

"Well, you know, stuff I've never had. I've had all this before." He said, gesturing all around him.

"Really? Have you had this before then?" She asked, placing a soft red fruit into his hand. He was about to say he had until he looked at it properly. He brought it up to his eyes, examining it closely.

"Fine, I have no idea what this is." He said begrudgingly, giving it back to her.

"It's dragon fruit." She stated with a small smile. He looked thoroughly taken aback.

"You're taking the piss right?" He scoffed.

She turned the fruit over showing the sticker on it that stated it was in fact dragon fruit.

"No fucking way." He exclaimed, snatching the fruit off her to stare at the sticker more closely.

"Language Ron." She snapped, but he ignored her.

"Can we get some of this? I wouldn't mind showing it to my family." He said hopefully, unintentionally causing the wind to get knocked out of her. She wondered if she'd ever be able to think of his family without instinctively thinking about _him_ first.

Ron saw her reaction and awkwardly kept his eyes on the fruit so it appeared as if he hadn't noticed. She stopped focussing on what she was feeling and gave him a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"Sure." She placed a few dragon fruit in the basket and started walking further down the aisle

"I was right though." He said, gaining her attention as they walked side-by-side, "There's nothing Muggle-y in this section."

This time, she genuinely smiled.

Hermione was quite surprised at how long they actually spent in the supermarket. It had to be the longest she had ever spent in a single shop before. She expected to spend a longer amount of time than usual in the shop but she could hardly believe it when it was getting close to two hours. For the majority of it though, she had hardly noticed how much time they had wasted. What was frustrating through was how Ron resolutely refused to let Hermione buy a single thing other than the dragon fruit. Every time he found something he wanted he'd instantly put it back with a slightly depressed expression before walking away.

Nevertheless, he had still insisted on going through every single part of the store which was why they had only just made it to the dessert aisle. Ron was having difficulty choosing between a tiramisu and a chocolate cheesecake, deciding that he could have one dessert he wanted.

"Ron, honestly, it's no trouble for us to get both. You can always take the rest of it home." She said, seeing how conflicted he looked. She was tempted to say that together it would only be a few sickles but she knew how sensitive he was about money.

"No, I'm going to pay you back." He said, as the tips of his ears turning pink. He dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out the few knuts and sickles that were there.

"Ron, you don't have to. It's my treat." She insisted, and saw his resolve was beginning to break down.

"You already got me the dragon fruit though." He stated, mournfully looking down at the food in his hands.

"And so far that's the only thing you've willingly let me get for you." She said irritably, while a blush began working its way up his neck. She ran a hand through her hair letting out a long sigh, before saying, "When I stayed at your house over the summer, I didn't pay for anything then. Why won't you let me do the same?"

"Yeah, but that was different." He argued, "You were invited to stay. You didn't invite yourself over."

"You didn't." She said instantly, causing his eyes to snap towards her, "I wanted you to come with me, even if I didn't say it. I really do appreciate your being here. It would have been much less enjoyable if I were alone."

She wasn't sure why she was suddenly being so open with him about how she felt. Usually she would think twice about what she wanted to say, before deciding whether it was safe enough to say without him suspecting her feelings for him.

She put it down to her lack of sleep and kept her gaze firmly on the treacle tart in front of her as a blush rose in her cheeks. He smiled sheepishly at her almost compliment.

"Why didn't you just say you wanted me to come here?" He asked, trying to ignore the flaming in his cheeks.

"It's hardly the sensible thing to do, given the circumstances." She said wearily. He nodded understanding, not knowing how to respond, and put both the desserts in the basket.

They shortly returned to Hermione's house after purchasing their food and Hermione started preparing their dessert as Ron looked through Hermione's small film collection, still not entirely sure what a film was.

She had cut herself up a small slice of cheesecake while giving Ron a much bigger slice with a good portion of tiramisu as well. She returned and he showed her his choice. She let out a snort seeing it and placed their food on the coffee table.

"Kind of fitting, don't you think?" Ron said with a smile. Hermione shook her head in disbelief and knelt down next to him. She took the video out of his hand and gazed at the cover fondly.

"I haven't watched this in years. It's a bit immature really." She said honestly, and looked over at Ron to see him give her a skeptical look.

"Of course, we can't watch it because you're always saying how mature I am." He joked, moving over to the coffee table so he could have some cheesecake.

She rolled her eyes at him and gave in, putting the film on.

"How do you know so much about it?" He asked, before digging into his food. She stopped what she was doing so she could turn her head back at him.

"About what?"

"Sleeping Beauty, I mean you seem to know loads about it. I wouldn't have thought you'd be interested in children's stories even when you were one." He said light heartedly, and she let out an exhausted sigh, knowing how she was about to be severely mocked.

"After I got my letter from Hogwarts, naturally my parents didn't believe a word of it. At first I didn't, but a small part of me couldn't help believing it, even if it was just a little bit. It was rather far-fetched but it was an explanation for everything odd that had happened to me. I was slightly unsure about it though so I thought it would be best to do some research - to see if magical schools had ever existed. Of course, all that sort of information was rather limited and I hardly knew about any books that gave information about magic. I really had no other option than to turn to fairytales to see if Hogwarts could possibly be real." She explained, moving over to Ron and sat next to him on the floor.

She picked up her dessert and took a small mouthful, expecting him to burst out laughing at any moment. She was quite surprised to hear nothing but silence. She cautiously looked over at him to see him munching through his cheesecake, nodding his head. He eventually swallowed and said,

"Fair enough. You were only ten or something, weren't you? Did you find anything?"

She let her slight astonishment die down at him not laughing at her and answered, "I was eleven and no. It makes sense really, considering if anyone had revealed it they wouldn't be too popular with the ministry."

"Yeah, I suppose." Ron said, and glanced at the screen. He jumped as the Disney logo appeared with a sudden burst of music. Luckily for him, Hermione hadn't seen.

"What's that? 'Dies-knee'?" He asked, gesturing towards the screen and Hermione couldn't help sniggering.

"It's pronounced 'Disney' and that's the company's logo. It's their trademark. Think of it as their Hogwarts crest." She explained briefly.

"What's a company? And why does it need a logo?"

She quickly decided that Ron was possibly the worst person to watch a film with. Once he finished asking all the technical based questions, he felt the need to comment on the film every minute. It would range from thoughtful comments such as,

"Why did the witch change the year of her death?"

To comments where he was simply voicing his thoughts about certain aspects of the film,

"I bet they're going to sing again in a minute...Ha! I knew it! I bloody knew it!"

After twenty minutes or so, he quickly became bored because of how 'mind-numbingly girly' it was so Hermione left it on in the background as they talked for awhile. However, he immediately became interested in the film again when Sleeping Beauty had become possessed so Hermione managed to slip out of the room to clear up a bit of the mess they had made.

While she did the washing up, she mentally noted to look up some cleaning and cooking spells. She was of age and it was a slightly tedious task. She glanced over at the time and was surprised to see her parents were due home at any moment. She had thought that her mother said she was going to call when they were on their way home so Hermione dried off the plate she had just washed quickly. She checked the phone for any new calls and realised her and Ron must have been out when her parents had rang.

She couldn't believe how quickly the time had gone, cliched as it was for her to think it. It had felt like minutes since she had said goodbye to everyone at King's Cross Station and now, in just a few short minutes, she was going to have goodbye to him as well. She did her best not to think about it and she quickly packed away the left-overs of the desserts for Ron to take home. She knew her parents would have a fit at discovering the amount of sugar there was in the food.

She re-joined Ron to watch the rest of the film and unconciously looked over at him. She burst out laughing seeing the look of complete fear on his face, immediately making him jump as he had been so immersed in the film. He quickly realised she had been laughing at him and he scowled.

"It's not funny! I've never seen one of these film things before!" He said fiercely.

"Oh don't be so over-dramatic! You would have done the same if I had looked as terrified as you." She retorted, making his features slightly less rigid.

"How'd I look then?" He asked stiffly. She attempted to imitate his expression and even he couldn't help snorting at her.

"You see." She said proudly, and the front door opened as her parents walked in.

Hermione felt the familiar surge of happiness she always got whenever she saw them again after spending weeks away at Hogwarts. Audrey placed her suitcase on the floor while looking over at Hermione and beamed. Hermione wasted no time in hurrying over to her and threw her arms around her mum.

"Hi mum, dad." She said, with her head over Audrey's shoulder, not caring that wisps of Audrey's curly golden hair were getting into her eyes and mouth. She grinned at her dad, Phillip, who couldn't hide his joy at seeing his daughter again, even though he was mad at her. She broke free from Audrey's embrace to give Phillip a similar hug before remembering her manners.

"Oh." She pulled away and looked over at Ron, who was stood up awkwardly with the tips of his ears turning red. "Mum, dad, this is Ron. Ron, this is my mum, Audrey, and my dad, Phillip."

He gave a small shy wave with a forced smile. He quickly remembered he had the ability to walk and stumbled over to them.

"Hi." He said, and then stiffly stuck out his hand to Audrey. She gave him a warm smile and shook his hand.

"Hello Ron, it's nice to meet you. Hermione's told us all about you in her letters." She said, making Ron's eyebrows raise.

"Really?" He said in disbelief, and looked over at Hermione. She instantly looked at anything apart from him, praying her hair hid her blush.

"Oh yes." Audrey responded enthusiastically, as Phillip came into view. Ron's smile instantly faltered at Phillip's intimidating presence. He was wearing a long, expensive looking black coat and partnered with his leather gloves and shoes, it became obvious that he was in no financial trouble. Unlike Ron, who's jumper was frayed, had trousers an inch to short and was wearing a pair of Bill's old trainers.

Ron let go of Audrey's hand and hesitantly stuck it out towards Phillip.

"It's good to meet you...sir." He said shyly, and Phillip smiled at him, shaking his hand.

"Like wise. I'd just like to thank you for making sure Hermione got home safely." Phillip said in an authorative tone.

"Umm, it was no problem. I was happy to do it." He said honestly, and stopped shaking his hand. He glanced around before catching the time. "Well, it was good to meet you and all, but I should probably be getting home."

"Of course, do you need a lift home?" Audrey asked politely.

"We'd be happy to do it." Phillip said in the same authorative tone.

"Oh no, I don't want to be any trouble. Plus I live in Devon and Hermione said it would take hours to get home with Muggle transportation." He explained, as Audrey and Phillip shared a mildly perplexed look.

"Oh-can you apparade then?" Audrey said, remembering how Hermione had briefly told them about that form of Wizarding transportation.

"No, but I'm getting the Night Bus back which is just as reliable." Ron half-lied, having heard how unpleasant the Night Bus actually was.

"All right then, we'd better start unpacking then Aud'. Perhaps Ron you'd like to stay a few days over the summer?" Phillip suggested formally, taking Ron by surprise.

"Umm sure, I mean I'd have to check a few things but I guess it'd be fine." He stammered slightly, and Phillip gave him a curt nod as they picked up their suitcases.

"Wonderful. It was a pleasure meeting you, Ron." Audrey said, and her and Phillip went upstairs. Ron let out a sigh of relief and wiped his sweaty hands on his trousers.

"They seem nice." He said, and Hermione smiled at him. She picked up the food that Ron was going to take back with him as he put his coat on. They both walked just outside the door and Hermione shivered, having not realised how cold it was.

The silence was heavy with the impending goodbyes that needed to be said, but didn't want to be said. Neither of them really knew how to begin or how they were going to end the conversation. This was going to be the first time they had ever been faced with a situation where they had to say goodbye.

It was Ron who eventually broke the ice by reluctantly saying,

"I really should be getting home."

Hermione nodded, still looking at the ground, before taking a deep breath and looked up at him. She handed him the food.

"Tell me how you like the Dragon Fruit when you try it." She insisted with a smile, making him chuckle.

"Don't worry, I will. I might send one to Charlie or ask if he's had one before, he'd love that." Ron said, increasing Hermione's smile. The smiles slowly drifted off their faces as the silence became heavy again. They both fidgeted as Hermione chewed on her lip and Ron ran a hand through his hair.

"You will write won't you?" She finally said in an achingly hopeful tone, and resumed biting on her bottom lip. He grinned lopsidedly.

"'Course I will. Got to give you your Christmas present somehow, haven't I?" He said, and she smiled again.

"I just hope it's not a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans. There's bound to be a vomit flavoured one lurking in it somewhere." She joked, and he laughed.

"Don't you remember? We made a deal that you'd only ever eat them in my presence from now on so I could tell you." He replied.

"That's right." She said, momentarily forgetting. She heard a drunken yell in the distance, reminding her of how late it was and how they really ought to have said goodbye already. She couldn't bare to think about how furious Molly would be with Ron by the time he got home.

When Ron started pulling out his wand, she didn't know if it was a hint that he wanted to go or if he felt obligated to leave. Either way, it made her heart sink into her stomach, and without thinking, she flung her arms around his neck, pressing her body right up against his. She ignored how it was actually hurting her since the boxes he was holding were digging into her, and tightened her grip around him.

He seemed to come to his senses as he wrapped his arms back around her, not caring that he accidentally dropped one of the boxes in the process. She closed her eyes, breathing him in and swallowed down the lump in her throat. He tightened his hold on her as her scent filled his nostrils.

She knew it was stupid how emotional she was being. They'd be seeing eachother in a few short weeks, it wasn't as if they were never going to see eachother again. But she still needed something wonderful to remember the day by. Naturally she considered the entire day to be completely irreplacable, but she needed this one thing, where everything else that happened during the day would forever revolve around a specific moment in her memory. And she couldn't imagine anything being more perfect than this; having his arms around her, with him clinging onto her just as desperately as she was clinging onto him.

Neither of them knew nor cared how long they remained like that. When they eventually parted, no other words of goodbye needed to be said. They could see in eachothers' eyes how the other felt and they somehow knew that this goodbye was just as difficult for the both of them.

He gave her one last reassuring smile before turning around and walking down the path.

"Ron!" She called out, and he immediately turned back, "You...you'll make sure _he_ doesn't do anything stupid, won't you?"

His smile dropped marginally but he swallowed and nodded, "'Course."

He appeared as if he was about to turn around again but she couldn't let their last words be about George.

"And you'll take care of yourself too." She said strongly, and Ron grinned.

"Just as long as you do the same." He answered playfully, and she beamed. He waved at her with his wand in his hand, immediately bringing the Night Bus to a halt on the road in front of him. He looked at it momentarily surprised, then back at Hermione. He shrugged his shoulders, which for some reason made her laugh, before he jogged towards the bus and stepped on it.

She opened the front door to her house and stepped inside. She looked back just in time to see the bus speed off into the distance before she walked inside fully. She closed the door behind her, and rested her back against it as reality came crashing down all around her.

* * *

><p><strong>A:N I thought I'd post this a day earlier since it's Christmas! And I really don't think I'd be able to post it tomorrow. Kind of fitting how the timing of the story worked out :P**

**Hopefully everyone managed to understand through this chapter that in OOTP, it was only Harry and Hermione that stayed at Grimmauld Place in the summer, not the Weasley's. I just don't think it would have worked if they all had stayed in the same house without Harry and Hermione somehow meeting Ron.**

**Also I hope no-one was too disappointed Hermione didn't go to the Burrow, since this was a very Romione centric chapter. I just didn't think it would fit Hermione's character to go to the Burrow after she broke up with George. I did actually attempt to write it that way but the whole time I felt it was wrong and thought it was out of character for her to go. **

**Don't expect another chapter of this length for awhile though. I did contemplate splitting it in half but there wasn't a point where it would have worked so it came out like this. **

**Anyway, enough of my rambling, hope everyone has a great Christmas and New Year's! **

**Thankyou so much for all your reviews!**


	19. Chapter 19

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=4wBU_GgE3xc**

**Copy, paste and replace the closed brackets with fullstops.  
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To Be By Your Side

Chapter 19

Spaces Inbetween

"_I will leave this man,_

_Just to occupy one minute of your day,_

_Just to sleep underneath your bed,_

_Just to stay in the corner of your heart."_

_Corner of Your Heart – Ingrid Michaelson_

_ Hermione,_

_ Well, I guess I'll get the boring stuff over first, happy Christmas! Yeah, I know it's tomorrow but I wanted to be sure this made it to you on time. Also Harry still needs to send over his present with Hedwig since it wouldn't fit with mine._

_Ginny's just walked in and insisted on asking if you could say whether or not her present made it alright with Errol, she won't trust that bird with anything._

_ Great, now I can't remember what I was going to say...oh, I told dad about how messed up Muggle children's stories are! His face was priceless, I think it was the first bad thing he discovered about the Muggle world. He didn't even believe me until Harry backed me up on it._

_ Oh yeah, speaking of Harry, he's actually an all right bloke. 'Course I have to hate him a bit since he's my sister's boyfriend but you know, if she has to have a boyfriend then I'm glad it's him. We've actually been getting along really great. You never told me how much of a laugh he can be. Plus he's a fan of Quidditch so can't go wrong there. I'll have him converted to be a Cannons supporter any day now._

_ That dragon fruit stuff was utter shite though. "Language Ronald", I know, I know but it was! You could have warned me about all those black bits in it and then it didn't really taste of anything. The red skin around it was horrible as well! Don't know why you wanted me to try it. _

_ It wasn't nearly as bad as the Night Bus though. Some lunatic must have been driving it since I was clinging onto a bed the entire way, half-afraid I was going to die or something. Luckily it didn't take long but of course mum practically deafened me by the time I got home. You'd think I was five, not sixteen. It wasn't even that late, it had only just gone half-twelve and it's not as if Fred and – well, you know, they've been out way later then that and have never gotten that response. _

_ Anyway, I better get back now. Mum's insisted on having a party so she's already stressed out even though it's not for another few hours so I should probably help out. And I may still need to wrap up a few more presents. What? I have a big family, it takes a lot of time!_

_ Everyone says they miss you and look forward to seeing you again._

_ Don't study too much and relax for once. You need it._

_ Wishing you were here,_

_ Ron_

_ P.S; Remember our deal._

Hermione couldn't help rolling her eyes at his last sentence, subtlety definitely wasn't his strong point. And it was more than obvious who he had been trying not to mention.

Nonetheless, she straightened out the parchment in her fingers and re-read the letter for the thousandth time with the smile never leaving her face. She absentmindedly started stroking Crookshanks as she sat on her bed.

It had been a couple of days since Ron had left and she couldn't remember the last time she had been so bored. Naturally she had finished all of her homework, and her parents had told her all about their trip, but aside from that, she'd spent a lot of time in her room.

She had been trying to sort out all of her conflicted thoughts and feelings about Ron, George, herself. She knew she'd done the right thing in breaking up with George, she was positive of that. They couldn't have continued their relationship. That much was obvious considering what they had put eachother through and they had both admitted they didn't love eachother. However, that didn't mean her feelings for him had disappeared overnight. She cared about him greatly, but she was unsure how much she did.

She let out a weary sigh, placing Ron's letter on her bedside table and pulled Crookshanks into her lap. She ran her fingers through his long ginger fur as he purred contently. She smiled at him as he looked up at her.

"I bet you don't have these kind of problems, do you Crookshanks?" She asked, knowing he couldn't respond but felt a lot less stupid talking to her cat than herself. Crookshanks gave a jerk of his head making a small smile spread across her face as there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," She said, and Audrey stepped inside.

"I'm just popping out to the shops and was wondering if you wanted to come along." Audrey said, as Hermione's gaze never left Crookshanks.

"No, thank you." Hermione answered, causing Audrey to sigh.

"Hermione, are you okay? Your father and I have hardly seen you since we got back." She said concerned. Hermione finally looked up.

"I'm fine mum." Hermione said with a smile. Audrey gave her a sympathetic look and walked inside the room fully.

"You do remember that, don't you?" She asked, making Hermione's eyebrows furrow. "That I'm your mother, so I'll always know when you're trying to hide how you're really feeling."

Hermione's smile faded and she stopped stroking Crookshanks.

"Is it that obvious?" She asked, and Audrey closed the door before sitting on the bed next to Hermione.

"Well, you've hardly done a good job by cooping yourself up here." Audrey said, making Hermione snigger.

"I suppose." Hermione said, starting to stroke Crookshanks again.

"Look Hermione, I know how difficult break-ups can be but don't you think you owe your father and I some sort of explanation? You did put us through a lot of hassle and I'm not even going to tell you how much those plane tickets cost without pre-booking them." Audrey said truthfully, and Hermione sucked in a breath.

"I know mum, and I don't want to seem ungrateful for what you and dad did for me. Believe me, I really appreciate it but my situation with...George is rather complicated." Hermione said, surprised at how painful it was to say his name out loud and Audrey felt her frustration dissolve.

"It couldn't have something to do with Ron making sure you got home all right, could it?" She said with a knowing look in her eye. Hermione looked away from her mum in embarassment and wondered if subtlety wasn't necessarily her strongest point either.

"Didn't you say you had to go to the shops?" She said, and Audrey waved her off casually.

"It can wait." She said with a soft smile.

Hermione wasn't sure what it was, maybe it was the comforting look in her mother's eyes or her warm smile, or it could have simply been that this was her mum, but she quickly found herself rambling on about anything and everything that had happened in the past few months. She began with the very first day she went to the Burrow in the summer, describing everything she could remember that had occurred between her, George and Ron from that day onwards. She had no idea how long she had been talking for, nor did she care, she was just so relieved to be able to talk to someone about her situation without feeling awkward about it. The few times she had spoken to Ginny hadn't necessarily been easy, given her place it was expected that she'd be less than pleased.

Hermione hadn't even been aware that she had started crying until Audrey quickly fetched a box of tissues for her. She blew her nose and dabbed her eyes with one as she slowly came to an end,

"- And now I'm just so confused. I don't know if I still feel what I once did for George or if that's completely gone. I'm fairly confident I don't have any lingering romantic feelings for him but I was confident for a long time that I didn't feel anything romantically towards Ron, and we both know how wrong I was there.

"I'm utterly clueless about what I feel for Ron though. I know I have feelings for him, but I have no idea how long I've had them or why I even do. Actually, that's a lie. I know why I do, he's brilliant but what I feel for him is so different to what I've ever felt for anyone before. Everything's so much more intense with him and I'm so much happier when I'm around him and...it's as if he's made me a better person."

Hermione wiped away her tears, not caring that they only got replaced by fresh ones. Crookshanks snuggled up to her and she gave him a watery smile as she stroked the top of his head. Audrey let out a long sigh and took out the tight bun her hair was in, feeling a headache coming on.

"You certainly weren't lying when you said it was complicated." Audrey admitted with a dry chuckle. Hermione sniffed and let out a similar laugh of her own which wound up turning into a small sob. "Sweetheart."

Audrey moved up the bed and pulled Hermione into her arms.

"I'm sorry." Hermione apologised, with tears dripping down her nose.

"Don't apologise, you can't help the way you feel." Audrey said, smoothing the hair away from Hermione's face. They remained quiet for a few minutes until Hermione's crying subsided.

"What should I do?" Hermione asked.

"It's not my place to tell you, you know that." Audrey said sympathetically. "Although, I don't think I need to tell you how much of a mistake it would be to go after a boy who has a girlfriend. No matter how much of a cow she is."

"Did I really call her that?" Hermione said ashamed, and put a hand to her face.

"I think I heard you say that somewhere amidst the blubbering." Audrey said chuckling lightly, and Hermione moved out of her arms, letting out a groan. "But from what you told me it sounds as though you have every right to. Girls these days...I don't know, spending far too much time worrying over such trivial things."

Hermione gave her mum a questionable look causing Audrey's eyes to roll. "You know I wasn't talking about you, your situation is hardly trivial."

Still seeing the skeptical look written on Hermione's expression, she continued, "I mean it, this Lavender girl seems to only be worrying about getting a boyfriend and has done her whole life, whereas you've always seen what's important. You didn't ask for this to happen to you and you shouldn't blame yourself. You did the right thing."

"How?" Hermione asked, not believing a word Audrey said.

"Because you didn't run away at the first chance you got. You gave your relationship a chance, perhaps one too many in my opinion, and the moment you realised you felt something for Ron, you finished it between you and George. You did everything you could so George wouldn't get hurt."

"But he did." Hermione retorted, and Audrey let out an exasperated sigh.

"Yes but if you had chosen to stay with him, knowing you felt differently, then once the time came for you two to part ways, I can bet it would have hurt him a great deal more." Audrey said rationally, rendering Hermione silent.

Hermione ran a hand through her hair, thinking no matter what her mother said she'd always feel guilty about what she did to George.

Her eyes unconciously glanced over at Ron's present. A small smile spread across her face seeing how he had obviously tried wrapping it to perfection but had failed along the way. The paper was scrunched up in corners and was severely creased as if he had tried wrapping it up several times. There was also a ribbon tied around it that was in a knot rather than a bow.

"Open it." Audrey said with a knowing smile. Hermione looked at her wide-eyed.

"But it's not even Christmas yet." She answered, and Audrey waved her off.

"It's Christmas Eve and it's tradition to open one present."

"You always said that's a stupid tradition."

"Perhaps it can be an okay tradition, just this once."

Hermione couldn't hide her excitement as she began tearing open the present. Crookshanks looked less than pleased as bits of paper got thrown over him but his disgruntlement went unnoticed as Hermione saw what Ron had got her. She couldn't help laughing, seeing what one of the gifts were, which she had already suspected it of being.

"What on earth?" Audrey said shocked, picking it up.

"They're Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, except they're all vomit flavoured. We made a deal the other day that I wouldn't try any unless he was there to warn me about it." Hermione explained, only to have Audrey give her a disgusted look. She didn't bother explaining anymore and picked up the other present that she was clueless about.

In her hands was a long thin black box. It wasn't made of velvet so that ruled out the idea of him getting her jewellery, not that she had ever expected him to get her something like that. That was something a girlfriend would get, not a friend. Did that mean he got Lavender jewellery?

She forced that thought out of her mind, knowing if she'd let herself think about it too much she'd never stop. She ran her fingers softly down the lid and Audrey sighed angrily.

"Just open it, Hermione! Even I'm getting anxious." She said with a playful smile. Hermione chuckled slightly but did what Audrey asked and took the lid off the box. She couldn't hold back the gasp that escaped her lips upon seeing what was inside. She could hardly believe he got it for her. She had perhaps mentioned she wanted one in a casual conversation once, months ago. That was it.

Then there was the issue of how much it must have cost him. She didn't want to think about it, imagining how angry he would be at her just for thinking it, but it kept gnawing at her. It must have cost him a fortune. She hadn't bought it herself because it was way out of her price-range and she'd never expected him to actually buy it. She's said it off handedly, in a way that he would have done about owning the latest Firebolt.

She finally picked up the quill and held it delicately with the tips of her fingers. It was surprisingly light-weight considering it appeared to be made out of silver. Her name was also engraved on it and when she held it properly in her hand, it seemed to form around her hold so it fit against her palm perfectly.

"Someone's certainly happy with what they got." Audrey commented with a pleasant smile. Hermione quickly realised that she was beaming and she didn't even care how a blush was making its way up her neck. The smile faltered on Audrey's face, noticing the level of happiness on her daughter's face. "Hermione, I know you would never dream of it but being - having feelings for someone can sometimes make you do stupid things, so you weren't considering on trying to have a relationship with Ron, were you?"

"Oh no, of course not. He's with Lavender and I really don't think he shares-"

"Even if he wasn't with her, you wouldn't, would you?" She asked, and Hermione placed the quill back in the box.

"No, I'd never – I mean, I couldn't do that to George." Hermione said honestly.

"Okay, good," Audrey said relieved, and stood up. "As much as I'd like to stay and talk more, if I don't get to the shops soon they'll be closed."

"Of course. I need to write some letters anyway." Hermione said, and pulled open the drawer in her bedside table. She took out some parchment and ink as Audrey made her way over to the door. Hermione had taken off the lid of the ink when a small thought popped in her mind. "Mum."

Audrey looked back, holding the door open. "Yes?"

Hermione took a breath and awkwardly crossed her legs.

"If say Ron did feel similarly to me, would you think it'd be so terrible if we did become a couple? Months, weeks from now, when everything with George is in the past." She said hopefully, and Audrey let out a sigh.

"I won't lie to you, it would be odd." Audrey said, making Hermione's hope begin to diminish. "But, as long as George doesn't have a problem with it, and it doesn't cause any issues with him and his family, I don't see why not."

Hermione smiled appreciatively but couldn't prevent herself from asking another question, "Do you think he could feel similarly?"

Audrey let out a small laugh and gave Hermione a knowing look, "I'd love to tell you, but that's something you have to work out for yourself."

* * *

><p>Before Hermione knew it, December was in the past and January had begun. With various family members visiting and the usual Christmas holiday outings, it should have come as no surprise that the slightly chaotic holiday had to come to an end. Nonetheless, she still couldn't believe it when she was saying goodbye to her parents at Platform Nine and Three Quarters.<p>

Audrey was holding her in a tight embrace, trying not to let her emotions get the best of her.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to you being away for so long. Two weeks over Christmas is never going to be enough time to see you." Audrey said, as she reluctantly let go of her daughter. Hermione smiled warmly at her before being pulled into Phillip's arms.

"Make sure you put your studies first" He said, and she internally groaned, not knowing how many times he had said that sentence to her over the years. Audrey rolled her eyes in disbelief.

"Phil." She said warningly.

"But, don't forget to write as well." He added, making both Audrey and Hermione smile. He unintentionally tightened his hold around Hermione before they pulled away from eachother.

"Every week." She said reassuringly, and he smiled as he kissed the top of her head.

Hermione said her goodbyes once more before getting on the train. She was pulling her luggage behind her, wondering why she hadn't set up a place to meet up with Harry or Ron or anyone really. She was just coming to the end of the train when she found an empty carriage. She glanced at her watch and saw how there were still a few minutes until the train had to leave, and if she knew the Weasleys at all, they wouldn't arrive until the very last minute.

She sorted out her belongings and sure enough, Harry and Ginny found her just as the train set off. They both looked equally exhausted but at the same time, incredibly happy. They both also looked different, in a way she couldn't quite place.

"Hello Hermione." Harry said with a comforting smile. Hermione beamed at him and gave him a quick hug before giving a similar one to Ginny.

"How was your Christmas then?" Hermione asked, trying not to show the twinge of envy at not being able to share a little of the holiday with them. For some reason, this caused Harry to blush while Ginny became dazed for a few seconds with a dreamy smile to go with it.

"It was good." Ginny said still in the same dazed state. Hermione couldn't prevent the knowing smile from spreading across her face. Despite their futile attempts, it was obvious what had happened between Harry and Ginny during their time away. However, since they weren't ready to disclose it yet, Hermione chose to act oblivious to it.

Ginny seemed to break out of her daze and quickly added, "Mum insisted on throwing this huge party on Christmas Eve, loads of people were there; Hagrid, Lupin, Phlegm," Hermione let out a small laugh at the nickname for Fleur, but there was anything but a trace of laughter on Ginny's face. "Then 'Percy, the Prick' showed up."

"What?" Hermione asked in disbelief, as Harry and Ginny re-told how Scrimgeour tried to use Harry as a pawn for the Ministry.

While taking in everything Harry and Ginny told her, she couldn't help but notice the absence of someone else she desperately wanted to see. It wasn't that she wasn't pleased to see Harry and Ginny again, because she was. She just wanted to know how _he_ was. They'd exchanged a few letters over the two weeks they'd spent apart which could be considered a lot given the length of some of the letters she sent to him.

Either way, that didn't mean she hadn't missed him any less. She still had to thank him properly for the beautiful quill he'd given her and...she couldn't think of any other real reason as to why she wanted to see him so badly. Perhaps proper was a better word for it, because what she felt was most definitely _real_.

The truth was that she had simply missed him and the way he made her feel whenever he was around. It was difficult to describe her emotions around him, since they often changed every minute. All she knew was how she never felt something small with him. It was always something monumentally huge and overwhelming. If she was happy around him, it'd be as if she had never experienced sadness. If she was sad, he'd be able to take that pain away from being by her side. And Merlin, when she felt turned on around him, it was as if passion itself was running through her veins and it usually took all of her self control not to act on impulse and have her way with him at that moment in time.

It was exactly how she had explained it to Audrey a few weeks earlier, everything was intense with him. It put her in an all consuming fervid state that awoke whenever he was around. It plagued every part of her mind, body and soul, and she wouldn't have had it any other way. While the feeling was slightly scary, it was terribly exciting at the same time.

However, she couldn't dwell on her thoughts forever, but it just so happened that who she had been thinking of had come up in the conversation.

"Ron seemed to have a good time in the Muggle world." Harry said, making Ginny scoff.

"'Seemed to'? He hasn't shut up about it all holiday." Ginny said with a smirk, making Hermione's cheeks redden.

"He's a great guy." Harry brought up, sensing the conversation would be turning to an uncomfortable topic if he didn't. Both the girls eyes flashed towards him while Hermione's sparked with surprise, Ginny's were full of amusement.

"Should I be worried?" Ginny asked, raising her eyebrow.

"See, I told you, didn't I?" Hermione said smiling, and Harry shrugged his shoulders, not answering.

The rest of the train journey passed with talk about the upcoming term, but it was painfully obvious to Hermione the entire time that the person she most wanted to see still hadn't shown.

Once the train arrived at Hogsmeade station, Hermione tried looking over the crowd of people to find Ron, but instead caught the attention of the very person she had been dreading to see. She knew she would have to see George at some point, it would have been naive of her to think she could avoid him the entire time they were at Hogwarts. Their paths crossed far too many times for that to be able to happen.

As quickly as he caught her eye though, he was gone again and she couldn't deny how relieved she felt from it.

Not willing to risk seeing George again, she, Harry and Ginny started looking for an empty cart to go up to Hogwarts in. They eventually managed to find one with Luna in and they all smiled, seeing her reading the Quibbler upside down.

"Hi Luna." They all said in unison, as they stepped inside. She gazed around at them before slowly placing the magazine down on her lap.

"Oh hello Harry, Ginny, Hermione." She greeted in her usual dreamy tone. Harry and Ginny took a seat opposite Luna leaving Hermione to sit next to her. Hermione gave Luna a smile, albeit a slightly awkward one.

"How was your Christmas, Luna?" She asked reluctantly, and Luna turned her attention towards her.

"That's nice of you to ask Hermione. It was the same as every year really, although there were a lot more nargles around." Luna said with a reassuring smile, before opening up her copy of the Quibbler again and started reading. Hermione blinked a few times, wondering if she'd ever be able to understand Luna, before getting out a book of her own.

She had barely read a paragraph before there was a knocking at the cart, gaining everyone's attention but Luna's.

"Hello everyone!" Fred exclaimed, getting inside. Hermione tensed seeing who was behind him and immediately turned back to her book.

"Fred, what are you playing at?" Ginny said angrily, and he held his hands up in mock surrender.

"Nothing, it was either this carriage or one with a bunch of Slytherin girls so Georgie and Granger are just going to have to put the past behind them." Fred answered, sitting down next to Hermione as George took a seat next to Ginny.

Hermione gripped her book so tightly that her knuckles turned white and she resolutely refused to look anywhere aside from the words on the page. She didn't even care that none of the words were sinking in.

"I didn't know you weren't together anymore." Luna said, "It does make sense though, it was going to happen eventually. George has had far too many wrackspurts interfere with him over the years whereas Hermione's had hardly any."

What normally would have been considered quite humourous turned out to only increase the tension in the carriage. Luna drifted off into a daze while everyone else fidgeted awkwardly. Despite how Hermione had promised herself not to look up, her curiosity had taken over her and she flickered her eyes up to see George.

She was taken aback by his appearance. Not because he looked depressed or heart-broken, on the contrary it was quite the opposite. He looked perfectly fine, maybe a little uncomfortable but that was completely understandable given the circumstances.

She looked back down at her book before he could catch her gaze on him and felt a weight lift off her chest, that she didn't even know was there to begin with.

The trip to Hogwarts stayed in the tense awkward silence. Not even Fred was willing to make a joke to lighten the mood, but thankfully, the trip was a short one so it wasn't long before everyone was out of the carriage.

Hermione took one last chance on trying to find Ron but it appeared to be in vain. The sea of people around her made it virtually impossible for her to stand still for a few seconds, so trying to look for someone could only ever be wishful thinking. She headed inside, accepting she'd have to wait until after the feast to see him.

Well, that was what she thought until she walked into the Entrance Hall. Everyone was making their way to the common rooms so they could catch up with all the people they had missed, leaving the hall relatively bare aside from the way to the grand staircase.

She should have known why she hadn't seen him all day. It only made sense for him to be catching up for lost time with his girlfriend. Apparently, he had changed his mind about her, since they were still very much together.

He must have, given the way his arm was wrapped around her waist and her arms were wrapped around his neck. She was pressed right up against him with her head lying on his chest and her eyes were closed as a content smile spread across her face.

She must have said something since her lips moved, but due to the distance, Hermione couldn't hear what it was. Lavender opened her eyes and raised her head as she looked at Ron expectantly. He gave her an awkward smile in return as the tips of his ears turned red.

Hermione couldn't take seeing the 'happy couple' a moment longer and stalked towards the grand staircase, unaware that Ron had just noticed her presence. If she had only stayed a few seconds longer, she would have seen Lavender hit Ron on the chest before running away with tears streaming down her face.

* * *

><p>It was an odd feeling, seeing him like that with Lavender. It was hardly the worst position she'd ever seen them in but then again, she'd never seen them together ever since she admitted how she truly felt about him. Without the denial putting up some walls for her, she was now taking the full blast of what it was like to see him in a relationship.<p>

Gravity itself had turned against her, making every movement that much harder. Her footsteps were slow and heavy as if deadened by her weight. Her stomach had plummeted to the ground when she remembered the content smile on Lavender's face. That was not just any content smile. That was not a smile for any boy. No, that was a smile for someone you deeply cared for and possibly loved. Whatever was going on between Ron and Lavender had now taken itself to a new level. It was becoming a serious relationship.

She knew what she was feeling could be conceived as hypocritical. It wasn't so long ago that she had been in a serious relationship, with Ron as an onlooker for it. But he couldn't possibly have felt or feel what she did for him.

Or could he? When she looked back at some of their moments together, she couldn't help but hope that he could. There was the odd lingering look here and there, but that could be her misinterpreting his actions. Maybe she was looking for something that simply wasn't there. He didn't feel that way about her and she had to stop hoping he could. That way she might have a chance of moving on.

* * *

><p>The day passed quickly after that. Between settling back in and spending time catching up with everyone, it was to be expected. So it was in no time at all that Hermione found herself seated in the Great Hall with a full plate of food in front of her.<p>

Despite telling herself not to notice, she couldn't help realising how Ron was sat back at the Slytherin table, rather than at the Gryffindor table with Lavender. She was acting rather subdued herself and kept on throwing glares at Hermione every few seconds but, unlike the seating arrangement, this was no different than usual.

Letting out a sigh, Hermione put her fork down and got up.

"I'm not hungry, I'll see you back in the common room." Hermione said tiredly, not looking at Harry or Ginny before exitting the Great Hall. She'd barely taken a few steps outside when she heard the voice that made her stomach flip,

"Hermione!" Ron called, and she turned around to see him rushing up to her. All previous thoughts about seeing him with Lavender seemed to disappear from her mind. In that moment, all she thought of was how it felt to see him again.

"Hello, Ron." Hermione said beaming, and his face mirrored her expression when he stopped running. The pair of them both looked as if they wanted to hug eachother but neither were willing to make the first move so they were both bouncing on their feet.

It was strange how both of them had been dying to see eachother but now that they were, all the questions they had been wanting to ask seemed to leave their minds. They stood still, simply smiling at one another.

The pair eventually realised what they had been doing and a blush immediately began working its way up Ron's neck, while Hermione awkwardly looked downcast and tried to ignore the pleasurable shivers that crept up her spine, as she still felt his eyes on her. She noticed some ink on her hands which quickly reminded her of what she had been meaning to say.

"Thank you so much for the quill." She exclaimed, immediately looking back at him and he sheepishly scratched the back of his neck.

"It was nothing." He said dismissively, causing her gaze to harden.

"Don't say that, it was perfect. It is perfect." She insisted, and he grinned lopsidedly feeling his heart rate increase. That was probably the best compliment he could have received. "You really shouldn't have gone to so much trouble."

"It was nothing." He repeated, this time causing a small smile to spread across her features. He returned the smile and his eyes widened, as he quickly remembered what she'd gotten him. "Thanks for the signed Keeper gloves! I have no idea how you got the Cannon's best Keeper to date's autograph on them but they're fantastic."

Hermione chose not to say how she had no idea that Kenneth Moricove had been the team's best Keeper since they were the only pair of Chudley Cannon's based merchandise in the Quidditch shop at Hogsmeade. She also chose not to say how they were a great deal cheaper than the other pieces of merchandise in the shop since the Cannon's were hardly a popular team.

"It was nothing." She said, repeating him which made him grin.

A few other people had started vacating the Great Hall, reminding them that they weren't as alone as they thought. It seemed as if people hadn't forgotten the various rumours spreading around about George and Hermione's break-up before the holiday, since they were giving Ron and Hermione curious looks.

"Do you want to go outside for a walk or something?" Ron suggested, trying not to take any notice of the stares and failing.

"Yes." Hermione said instinctively, perhaps a little too quickly. They both beamed and walked outside, unaware of the blistering cold wind.

"Maybe we should go back inside." Ron said, sounding defeated that his idea hadn't worked as his teeth chattered.

"No, we'll be fine just give me a moment." Hermione said, and pulled out her wand. "Hold out your hands."

He hesitantly did as she instructed and she cast the necessary charm for bluebell flames to appear in his palms.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that spell." Ron mumbled slightly begrudgily.

"It could happen to anyone." She said instantly, and started rummaging through her bag. "Do you think we could share those? One of us should probably keep our hands free and I can't find a container."

"S-sure, no problem." Ron said, as the tips of his ears turned pink and he took a few steps closer to her as she fastened her bag. When she turned back around towards him, her eyebrows rose at how close he was but she was hardly going to complain. Her heart started racing as she noticed the way the flames lit up his face in a soft blue hue. She could make out every contour and curve on his face and she had to make a fist so she wouldn't reach out and touch him. It might have sounded ridiculous but the temptation to just cup his face and brush her lips against his was almost torturing her.

His eyes seemed to be intensified by the light, somehow making them an even stronger blue colour and once she noticed how they were staring straight into hers, she shivered.

Her feet seemed to have a mind of their own as she moved closer to him but she didn't stop herself from doing it. She swallowed, realising how dry her throat had gotten and gave him a warm smile which contrasted greatly with the snow that was beginning to fall around them.

He licked his lips making her stomach fill with warmth and her toes curl. His eyes flickered to her lips before going back to her eyes. All of a sudden, she was finding it stifingly hot and she had to part her lips in order to take in a shuddering breath. Her chest swelled as her centre started pulsating and he visibly swallowed when he took another small step towards her.

If it weren't for his hands being out in front of him with the bluebell flames in them, there wasn't a doubt in her mind that they'd be pressed against eachother.

"You okay?" He asked hoarsely, sending another spark of electricity coursing through her. She took in another icy breath and gave him a perplexed look so he said, "You're not cold anymore, are you?"

The temperature seemed to lower rapidly as she heard him utter that sentence. If she hadn't been clear on what was going on between them before, she certainly was now. He obviously was only concerned with her well-being, nothing else. He wasn't feeling anything remotely close to what she was. He just wanted to make sure she wasn't cold.

She immediately took a step away from him and crossed her arms.

"Actually, it's rather prickily out here. I think I'm going to head up to the common room now." She announced stiffly, and hurried back inside the entrance hall. Ron stood dumbfounded for a few seconds before he came to his senses and went after her.

"Wait, Hermione!" He said, but she strode ahead, doing her best to ignore him. With his long legs though, he caught up with her easily and he wheeled around in front of her. "You don't have to go up just yet. We could hang out in the library or something, if you want."

"Oh yes, we have to go to the library since that's obviously the only place I would want to go to! Hermione Granger's only good for studying, everyone knows that." She snapped bitterly, taking him aback again.

"What? I didn't mean – I just thought-" He started with furrowed eyebrows.

"Yes, thinking. That's a rare occurance for you, isn't it Ronald? It's a good thing too since you never follow through with what you think about." She interrupted in the same acidic tone.

"What are you going on about?" He retorted, trying to mask the hurt her words caused.

"Lavender!" She shrieked, nearly making him jump. "You said to me you wanted to break-up with her!"

"Yeah, and I do." He answered unsurely, a little confused about why she was randomly having a go at him.

"Then why haven't you done anything about it?" She stated furiously, placing her hands on her hips. He seemed to shrink in height a little and he stayed silent, unable to come up with a decent retort. He shifted from side to side and seemed incredibly interested in his shoes until she lost her patience and practically shouted, "Well?"

His jaw tensed and he gritted his teeth, glaring at the ground.

"It's complicated, all right?" He said moodily, finally looking back at her.

"What? Like me and George weren't complicated?" She questioned hotly.

"I never said that so don't put words in my mouth!" He snapped, and aggresively ran a hand through his hair. "I just mean... she well - I might have underestimated it a little."

Hermione's anger died down as she saw how conflicted and guilty he looked. She uncrossed her arms so they lay limply at her sides.

"What did you underestimate?" She asked apprehensively, sensing she wasn't going to like his answer. Ron put his hands in his pockets and leant against the wall behind him.

"Everything. She said she's in love with me." He stated morosely.

Hermione couldn't have prevented the small gasp that escaped from her mouth and she raised her hand to it. She barely had time to register the information before he continued saying,

"And it wasn't like before when she'd said it. It sounded as if she really meant it this time."

He slid to the ground so he was sitting down and closed his eyes regretfully, letting his head fall back.

Hermione's hand slowly fell from her mouth. She forced herself not to focus on how she was feeling since she took one look at Ron and knew this news must be affecting him a great deal more than her.

She walked over and leant against the wall beside him, peering down at the floor as he brought his head back to its natural level.

"What are you going to do?" She asked timidly, and he let out an exasperated sigh.

"I don't know." He said in an almost painfully honest tone.

She didn't know how to respond so instead she said nothing and just hoped her presence could help him in some way. He was quiet for a few moments, appearing to be collecting his thoughts so she sat herself down next to him.

"I know I have to do it; break up with her. It's just difficult. It's not easy being alone." He said mournfully, "I mean, it's not as if anyone else here wants me the way she does."

He looked at her expectantly, a small part of him hoping she'd refute his comment but all she did was chew her lip.

Hermione knew how wrong he was, but she couldn't find it in herself to tell him otherwise. If she did, he'd want to know who and she couldn't lie about somebody else feeling that way about him, and there was no way she was willing to put her heart on the line. Instead, she remained silent and stared insistently at her hands in her lap, somehow knowing if she looked at him she'd probably end up confessing all of her feelings for him.

He eventually looked away from her with his hope falling to pieces. He had hardly expected her to say anything but that didn't mean it hurt any less. He couldn't even remember the last time anything went right with his life, so why should this be any different?

He pushed down his feelings, knowing now was not the time to wallow in self-pity and remembered what they had initially been talking about.

"And, yeah - Lavender can be a pain sometimes," Ron said. Hermione looked at him in slight relief that he'd broken the tense silence, but her relief vanished when she saw the guilt-ridden expression on his face.

"But, I don't want to hurt her." He said sadly.

"Ron-" She started sympathetically.

"I know. I will though, no matter what I do, and I hate knowing that. I can't believe I let it get this far and I just-" He let out a noise of frustration and hung his head low before saying in a low tone, "I really fucked up, didn't I?"

Hermione didn't say anything, knowing her true answer would hardly be reassuring so she hesitantly placed a hand on his shoulder. She ignored how the action made her feel, knowing she had to be there for him.

"You'll figure it out." She said, and he glanced up at her, not really believing what she said. He gave her a lopsided smile anyway which she returned as she started rubbing her hand up and down his arm.

Neither of them said anything after that since no words needed to be said. They just stayed in eachother's presence, both cherishing the time they had together.

* * *

><p><strong>A:N *sigh* Will those two ever get it right?**

**Unfortunately, I haven't had much time to write lately as I have exams this week and next week, but I am trying my best to do it whenever I can. The next update should still be in two weeks though.**

**And that's all I have to say really because I literally have no time to waste at the moment.**

**Thanks for all the reviews!**


	20. Chapter 20

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=XAsjKKc2glw**

**Copy, paste and replace the close brackets with full stops.  
><strong>

To Be By Your Side

Chapter 20

Unrequited

"_Close your eyes_

_Let me touch you now_

_Let me give you something_

_That is real."_

_Flames – VAST_

"I can't believe Snape gave me detention again." Harry said angrily, as he and Hermione walked out of Defence Against the Dark Arts. She tucked her hair behind her ears and pulled her bag higher up on her shoulder.

"Harry, I know he's being completely out of order, but you can't let him get to you." She said sympathetically.

"That's easier said than done." Harry grumbled, before letting out a noise of frustration. "Him and Malfoy are up to something, I just know it!"

Ignoring the sudden change in topic, Hermione couldn't hold back her aggravated sigh before saying, "Harry, please, can we not talk about Malfoy for one day?"

"But Hermione, even you admitted that he was acting odd." Harry pointed out, making her brows furrow.

"When did I say that?" She asked, genuinely having no idea when she could have said it.

"At King's Cross Station, to Ron, he told me." Harry explained briefly, and she suddenly remembered the argument Draco and Narcissa had been having.

She didn't have much time to dwell on the thought as something had caught Harry's attention and she recognised the look in his eyes far too well.

"Hey Ron!" Harry exclaimed, causing Hermione to whip her head in the right direction and saw Ron near the end of the corridor. Harry rushed up to him as he turned around and Hermione took a deep breath, hoping it would slow her rapidly beating heart before she walked briskly towards him.

"Hey Hermione, Harry." Ron said, sounding pleasantly surprised and smiled at the pair of them.

"Hi." Harry greeted, and Hermione beamed at Ron, about to greet him properly when Harry interrupted, "Can we talk somewhere privately about Malfoy?"

Ron's eyebrows shot up and he glanced at Hermione as if he was looking for some sort of confirmation. She attempted to give him an apologetic look which made him snigger before he said, "I guess."

The three of them found a nearby empty classroom and once they were all inside with the door shut, Harry wasted no time in immediately getting to the point,

"Have you noticed anything about Malfoy that could prove he's a Death Eater?"

"Oh honestly, Harry." Hermione said in disbelief and slight indignation. They had only been back at school for a week which was hardly any time for Ron to gain any information on what Draco could possibly be up to.

"Urr well – no." Ron answered with his cheeks aflame while he scratched the back of his neck. Harry couldn't have masked his disappointment if he tried, which Hermione gave him a stern look about. He caught her gaze and promptly ignored it.

"Is there not anything at all?" Harry said in an almost painfully hopeful voice.

"I don't know, there's only one thing that can really give it away and he mainly keeps that hidden." Ron stated, and sat down in the chair closest to him, sensing this was going to be a long conversation.

"How do you mean?" Harry questioned, as Hermione leant against the desk behind her.

"Well, you know, the Dark Mark on the arm. It's covered up by his robes most of the time and no offense mate, but I'm not going to try catching a look of him in the showers." Ron said chuckling a little, and Hermione smiled at him when he caught her gaze.

Not hearing a response from Harry, they eventually turned their attention to him and Hermione sighed seeing the look on his face.

"Harry, you can't seriously be considering the fact that Malfoy wears robes as evidential proof of him being a Death Eater." She said tiredly.

"Yeah. It is winter still, be a bit chilly without them." Ron said, and glanced at Hermione again before averting his gaze with the tips of his ears going red.

"I know, it's just – I can feel it. I know he is one." Harry muttered, more to himself than Ron and Hermione. He started pacing the room while Hermione chewed her lip.

"Has he been acting suspiciously or spending a lot of time alone?" Hermione asked Ron.

"I'm not sure, I can't really tell after only a week of being back." Ron said honestly, and Hermione nodded her head in understandment.

"But before the holidays, how was he then?" Harry questioned, as he stopped pacing. Ron thought about it for a few moments before letting out a sigh.

"Honestly? I have no idea, but I guess he wasn't around as much. Yeah, neither were Crabbe and Goyle come to think of it." Ron admitted.

They all seemed to be lost in thought for the next few minutes, processing all the information they now knew and tried to come up with a logical explanation for it. Harry had began pacing again as Hermione continued chewing her lip while Ron tapped his foot on the ground. He ran a hand through his hair agitatedly, appearing to give up on coming up with anything.

"Would it be worth trying to get some information out of Crabbe and Goyle?" Ron suggested hesitantly, immediately gaining the other two's attention.

"I don't think so. Malfoy's no idiot and I doubt he would have told them what he is up to. If they're helping him, they'd be doing it for no other reason than him just telling them what to do." Hermione said informatively, and Ron tried to hide his disappointment.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Harry agreed, before his eyes lit up, as if something had just clicked in his mind. "The Room of Requirement! That's where he's going! It all makes sense; the Room doesn't show up on the map and that was probably why it wouldn't let you in Hermione all the times you tried with- well, that's not important, but don't you see? Whatever he's up to, it's got to be in that room." Harry explained enthusiastically.

Ignoring Harry's slip up, Hermione was still apprehensive about the idea and it seemed Ron was too.

"That still doesn't explain how Crabbe and Goyle could be helping him. He can't exactly hide...wait, the Room of Requirement, that sounds familiar, is it in _Hogwarts A History_?" Ron said slightly perplexed, and Hermione's heart rate picked up as her eyes gleamed.

"You've read _Hogwarts A History_?" She asked in astonishment, and Harry tried to hold back his laughter by covering his mouth. Ron chuckled and gave her a look that made her stomach flip.

"You do remember I used to get good grades right? How else can you get a decent grade for History of Magic without getting through that ruddy thing?" Ron said, making Hermione's excitement diminish slightly.

"Take it you're not as fond of it as Hermione." Harry commented with a playful smile.

"Can anyone?" Ron said, and Harry laughed while Hermione rolled her eyes at the pair of them, but a small smile had worked its way onto her face. Ron grinned seeing her and remembered what they had been talking about, "I skimmed over a lot of it, but the odd thing stood out. What's so special about the room again?"

"It only appears when someone needs it and it can form into whatever that person seeks it to be." Hermione explained.

"Oh yeah." Ron said as it all came back to him. He quickly remembered that he had been making a point so he continued, "Anyway, I was going to say that Malfoy couldn't have Crabbe and Goyle helping him inside the room since they could see what he was doing."

"But is it possible for the room to form into several rooms?" Harry asked, and glanced at Hermione for the answer.

"It is possible, but I really can't see how Crabbe and Goyle could help Malfoy in a room separate to his, without them knowing how they were helping him." Hermione said. Harry sighed angrily and sat in the chair closest to him.

"There's still a chance though." He said insistently.

"Yeah, but whose to say they're even helping him? Or if he's even up to anything." Ron said, wondering how many times Harry and Hermione had had a similar discussion to the one they were currently having.

"Exactly, I say we talk about this in a few weeks time when we're sure that Malfoy is acting differently than usual." Hermione said in a tone of finality, before quickly turning attention to Ron. "That is, if you don't mind still keeping an eye on him, Ron."

He smiled, not thinking it was possible for him to refuse her when she had such a hopeful look in her eyes. "'Course not. Hell, if he is up to something I want to know about it too."

Harry looked conflicted for a second before stiffly nodding in agreement.

* * *

><p>Weeks passed with them all keeping an eye on Malfoy, but it was to no avail. It seemed as if there was actually nothing suspicious about him. He attended classes, went to meals and still attended the detentions he had been assigned after beating up Ron. Even in his spare time he could be seen in plain sight in the common room or around the castle. The same could be said for Crabbe and Goyle as they were at his side at all times.<p>

When Harry, Ron and Hermione met up again they were left with no option but to accept that Malfoy wasn't up to anything and that all they could do was continue keeping an eye out on him until he showed any sort of suspicious behaviour.

During these weeks, Hermione couldn't help but notice how George was doing. She never wanted to be a source of pain for him and she couldn't bare thinking she could be, so she had tried her hardest to steer clear of him. She didn't want to be some sort of reminder to him.

Despite her best intentiones though, they had crossed paths on occasion and when she had seen him, it was very similar to the day they'd returned to Hogwarts. He didn't look particularly hurt or damaged, but actually looked perfectly normal. He was still cracking jokes and performing the usual sort of pranks. If it was possible, he was doing it more then when they had been together, since he had more time to spend doing it. It seemed as though he was actually happier then he had been in a long time.

That being said though, that didn't change the fact that no matter what, if they were in the room together, it was undeniably awkward. Even if they were at opposite ends of it, they still knew the other was in the room and would unconciously glance at one another now and then. More often then not, they caught eachother's gaze and would immediately look away again, only serving in increasing the awkward tension in the room.

Hermione would have spent more time in the dormitories but that seemed to be the only place Lavender would spend any of her time, as a way of avoiding her. Whenever Hermione was in the dormitory, she was constantly at the end of a heated glare and if Lavender was feeling particularly bitter about something, she'd virtually start screaming accusations at her. This was usually on days whenever her and Ron had a patrol together or a tutoring session and it was no different on a late Thursday evening near the end of February.

Hermione had barely walked through the door before Lavender had stormed up to her, dressed only in a nightgown and her slippers. Judging by how Lavender's usually pristine hair was a mess, it didn't take much guessing that either she had unintentionally drifted off as she waited for Hermione's return, or she had been wide awake and was stressing out over the matter.

"And where have you been?" She shrieked, sounding as if she were talking to her boyfriend rather than Hermione. Having gotten used to this behaviour, Hermione merely rolled her eyes and headed towards her bed.

"You should know by now, Lavender, that we were patrolling. After all, you've practically memorised Ron's timetable so you can make sure you know his where abouts every second of the day." Hermione said, not even attempting to hide her contempt as she pulled out a pair of pyjamas from her drawers.

"Excuse me? What is that supposed to mean?" Lavender snapped outraged. She took a few steps towards Hermione, causing her to let out a noise of frustration.

"Look, I don't want to fight with you, Lavender. We go through this every day I spend the slightest amount of time with Ron and frankly, I'm sick of it. Everytime I say nothing has happened between us and everytime you accuse me of lying when I'm not. I don't know why you've gotten this utterly ridiculous idea into your head that Ron and I are having some sort of an illicit affair, but if you're that convinced about it, why are you only getting at me for it?" Hermione retorted, flashing around to glower at Lavender, not having the patience to hold her anger back.

"Because you're the one trying to steal him away from me!" Lavender shouted furiously, unintentionally intensifying Hermione's glare.

Hermione was well aware of her feelings for Ron, but she had done absolutely nothing that would make her deserve such an accusation. Admittedly, she had certainly felt things a friend shouldn't, but that hadn't meant she acted upon those feelings. She couldn't, for the simple reason that more people would be hurt from it than those who would gain.

"That's complete nonsense. I'm a friend to him, that's all. It was that way before you started going out with him and that's the way it is now." Hermione said simply, slightly surprised that the statement was rather painful to say out loud. Lavender scoffed and gave her a look of disbelief.

"Oh please, you didn't talk to him for weeks when we started going out! And it was obvious why to everyone, you're not exactly good at hiding it." She practically spat, giving Hermione a look of disgust.

Hermione swallowed nervously and looked away from Lavender.

"That's not true." She lied, making Lavender's eyes roll.

"You're no good at lying, Hermione, so don't even try. I'm not an idiot, I have seen you two together and the way you look at him and how he..." Lavender trailed off, and looked down while swallowing painfully. Her eyes welled with tears but she abruptly turned herself around so Hermione wouldn't see.

Hermione let out a tired sigh as she felt a headache coming on.

"Lavender, if you think he is cheating on you with me, which for the hundredth time he isn't, then why are you still with him?" Hermione asked, immediately making Lavender whip around so she could glare acidicly at Hermione. Hermione's eyes widened, seeing Lavender's glassy red ones and she sniffed, before contorting her face into one of defiance.

"Because I love him!" Lavender bellowed, nearly making Hermione jump with how loudly her proclamation had been. It was as if Lavender's words had somehow been a physical thing since the wind had been knocked out of Hermione.

That had been the first time Hermione had heard Lavender say that about Ron, and she could finally see what he meant. It truly sounded as if Lavender was in love with him.

Hermione blinked a few times as she regained her bearings while Lavender continued to look at her coldly. Hermione noticed how tears were still leaking out of Lavender's eyes, even though she didn't seem to be aware of them herself.

"And has he said he loves you?" Hermione asked hesitantly, thinking she finally knew the real reason behind Lavender's suspicions.

It was only for a second, but a flash of immense pain crossed Lavender's face before more tears came pouring out of her eyes. She desperately tried to hide them, suddenly humiliated by her display of emotion, and furiously wiped away at her face with her sleeves. She seemed to give up on trying to find her dignity and quickly let her arms fall to her sides. She took in a shaky breath while doing her best to look confident.

"I know he does, and it'll be more than whatever he feels for you." She spluttered, before rushing out the room and slamming the door behind her.

Hermione virtually collapsed onto her bed as she put her head in her hands, not believing how stupid she had been. Everything was finally making sense. Lavender didn't really think her and Ron were having an affair, she was just trying to find a reason for Ron's feelings, because he didn't love her. And on some level, Lavender knew he didn't.

When morning came the following day, Hermione, Harry and Ginny were making their way down to the Great Hall. Hermione was doing her best to put her conversation with Lavender out of her mind, but wasn't being very successful. However, she couldn't help but notice the way Harry was looking at Ginny and how he seemed to be holding back on laughing.

"What's up with you?" She asked Harry, making him snigger.

"You should be proud of Ginny, Hermione." Harry said, with a small smile playing at his lips as he saw Ginny's eyes widen. Hermione's brows knitted together as she caught the exchange.

"Really? Why?" She asked, and Ginny glared mockingly at Harry which only widened his smile.

"She found some chocolates Romilda Vane had sent me which were laced with love potion-" He started, taking Hermione aback.

"Wait, what?" Hermione asked shocked, and Harry turned towards her.

"I didn't have any, but when Ginny found them-"

"Don't tell me you had one." Hermione said disapprovingly, switching her gaze to Ginny and she gave her a look of disgust.

"Of course not, I handed them into Professor McGonagall." Ginny said, taking Hermione by surprise again.

"Well, that's exactly what you should have done." Hermione said with a proud smile.

"Only because you knew she'd get a few weeks of detention for it." Harry said sniggering, causing Hermione's smile to falter slightly, but she thought nothing of it. Ginny rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the ribs playfully only making him laugh some more.

They had just entered the Entrance Hall when they saw Ron making his way up from the dungeons. His sullen expression immediately brightened upon seeing the three of them and they all smiled at him as they headed towards him.

"Hey Ron, we still on for flying after breakfast?" Harry said, making Ron grin even more.

"'Course." Ron answered, giving Harry a look that he was insane for even asking.

"Good, because I can't wait to kick your arse again." Ginny joked, making Ron scoff.

"As if, last time I kicked your arse so hard that I-"

"Ron." Hermione said warningly, as Harry and Ginny started walking away.

"All right, but I'm still going to be better than you!" He exclaimed, making Ginny stick her tongue out at him. He did the same back to her, causing Hermione's eyes to roll but she couldn't help smiling as well.

He laughed slightly to himself before he turned his attention towards her.

"Why don't you come too?" He asked, making her laugh.

"You've clearly never seen me on a broom." She answered dryly. Ron shrugged his shoulders, edging a little closer to her.

"You could give it another shot." He suggested, and she shook her head, remembering far too well of the nauseating feeling she got on the one occasion she had ridden a broom.

"I don't think so." She refused.

"Come on, I could teach you." He said, and the sudden image of him and her sharing a broom flowed into her mind. She could be sat behind him with her arms wrapped around his waist as he flew them through the sky. The thought of having her body pressed against his sent an instant jolt down her stomach and, knowing it was neither the time nor the place to be having _those_ sort of feelings, she tried to rid her mind of the thought.

Instead, she imagined herself sat in front of him, attempting to steer the broom. She probably wouldn't be doing a very good job which would make him chuckle in that way he did. He'd then lean forward so he could place his hands on top of hers, in order to better her steering, and she'd turn her head towards him just as he turned towards her and – Hermione, in reality, stopped thinking at that point. Since when had she started spending so much time fantasizing about boys anyway? Even if it was just one boy, that hardly made it any better.

She ignored how quickly her heart was beating, and noticed how he was awaiting her answer.

"Thank you for the offer, but I better not." She said truthfully, a slight blush rising in her cheeks. His smile turned into a frown, pushing all thoughts of them sharing a broom out of his mind.

"Why?" He asked, and she tucked her hair behind her ears.

"Well, I hardly think Lavender would be too fond of the idea, considering she hates me enough as it is." She stated, causing Ron to look at the ground sheepishly, having momentarily forgotten that fact.

"Suppose you're right." He mumbled, and Hermione looked him up and down. She still couldn't understand why he was with her. He'd said on several occasions that he wanted to finish with Lavender but it had been over two months now that he had first admitted it.

"Ron-" She started, and he closed his eyes, knowing what she was about to say.

"I know, I know, I need to finish with her - but it's not like I haven't tried. Believe me, I have at least a dozen times, but everytime I do, it's as if she knows what I'm trying to do, so she starts crying and I just can't do it when she does that. I feel so guilty about hurting her." He explained, and Hermione bit her bottom lip, unsure if what she was about to say would be the best idea.

"But it's hurting her being with you." She said, making him look at her perplexed.

"How?" He asked.

Hermione took a deep breath, knowing she'd regret not telling him, no matter what his reaction would be and confessed what she had learnt about Lavender the previous night,

"Because she knows you don't love her."

It was odd in that moment for Ron. All he could do was stand there, blinking rapidly, looking like a complete idiot. He was experiencing so many emotions he didn't know how to react. Shock, fear, relief, guilt, confusion. He tried focussing on one of them, but that was the problem with emotions. You couldn't choose how to feel about something, you just felt that way about it and had to deal with it.

"H- How does she know?" He stuttered, and Hermione felt her heart sink into her stomach at how desperate and child-like he sounded.

"I don't know how she knows, but she must have figured it out somehow." Hermione answered, as Ron ran a shaky hand through his hair.

"But...how did you find out she knew?" He asked hesitantly. Hermione sighed and looked away from him.

"It was written on her face when she told me-" Hermione took a deep breath and concentrated on looking at the ground, "when she told me how much she loved you."

It appeared as if Ron had somehow managed to age several years in the few seconds that followed. His whole body seemed to drain of any happiness and he let out a long breath as he let the information sink in. It wouldn't have surprised Hermione if someone had thought a Dementor was close by, judging by how utterly defeated Ron seemed.

It just so happened though, that at that precise moment, Lavender chose to exit the Great Hall. If Hermione had thought Lavender looked bad last night, it was nothing compared to the state she was in now. She literally looked as if she had rolled out of her bed and couldn't have cared less about how she looked. Her face was red and blotchy, giving the impression that she had cried that morning, and her hair resembled Hermione's more than her usual glistening, tangle-free mane. No make-up was applied to her face, making it all the more obvious how depressed she actually was.

Her sadness only increased upon seeing Ron and Hermione alone and, for the first time, Hermione truly felt guilty from spending time with Ron, when she saw the tears well in Lavender's eyes. She stormed over to the pair of them, somehow managing to look completely furious and heart-broken at the same time.

"What are you doing here? Here, alone with her!" She shrieked, no longer holding anything back around him. He jumped slightly, not expecting such a violent reaction out of her so quickly and took a step away from her.

"I – I – I," He stammered, with fear in his eyes. A tear escaped from Lavender's eye and his fear immediately dissolved into pity. "I'm – we – I."

He was stammering for a very different reason now as more tears were falling down Lavender's cheeks as she gazed at him expectantly. He literally had no idea what he could say without making her cry more.

Hermione, who had been contemplating on leaving as this was clearly a private matter, chose to intervene. She knew that if she didn't, Ron would back down and apologise.

"We were just talking, Lavender. There's no need to react like that." Hermione said rationally, and Lavender whipped around to give Hermione a cold look.

"I wasn't talking to _you_." She retorted, making Hermione roll her eyes, but Ron instantly stopped feeling sympathetic towards Lavender. His jaw tensed while he glanced over at Hermione and he seemed to gain a little courage.

"She's right, Lavender. We were only talking. She's my friend and I'm going to keep talking to her, and I don't care what you think." He said fiercely, making Lavender look back at him in disbelief. He'd never stood up to her before when she cried. She gazed at him with wide eyes as her bottom lip trembled

"But – but, you never spend any time with me anymore! You're always hanging around with her!" Lavender cried, making Ron's nostrils flare.

"I spend plenty of time with you Lavender, I'm not going to cut anyone from my life just because you think...well, urr." While Ron had started off strongly, his embarassment got the better of him since he thought about what Lavender was accusing him of. His ears turned red and he scratched at the back of his neck, unconciously looking at Hermione. She tried to give him a reassuring look which said he was making a good start and should continue how he was going. He understood it and he lowered his arm, gaining that bit of confidence he needed.

Unfortunately, Lavender had caught the look between them which caused more tears to fall from her eyes.

"Why do you love her and not me?" Lavender questioned, successfully ruining all of the confidence he had. He instantly shrunk in height and he blushed when he glanced over at Hermione again. She was looking back at him with impossibly huge eyes and she swallowed, desperately trying not to show how her heart was racing.

Little did she know, his heart was beating just as quickly as hers, with Lavender's question whirling around in his head. He'd known for quite sometime that he definitely felt something for Hermione, but love? That word had a lot of meaning behind it.

He started wondering if what he was feeling could be love. Sure, he thought about her non-stop, to the extent that he had imagined her face instead of Lavender's nearly everytime they kissed. There was also the fact that whenever he was around Hermione, no matter what mood he was in before, he'd instantly feel a thousand times happier. Even when she was mad at him, he'd still rather be with her than with Lavender. And most importantly, she understood him in a way that no-one else ever had. He could open up to her and not feel like a whiny git about it, or feel as if she would judge him for thinking a certain way. She accepted him for exactly who he was and he wouldn't give that up for anyone or anything. He refused to give her up.

"You actually do, don't you?" Lavender said quietly, breaking Ron from his thoughts. He looked at her confused for a second, before he suddenly remembered why he had started thinking about possibly being in love with Hermione.

Lavender visibly paled, seeing how he wasn't answering and started sobbing. He immediately started panicking, having no idea how to make her stop crying.

"No, I – I -" He stuttered, and she put a hand over her mouth, holding back on letting out a noise of pain.

Hermione crossed her arms, desperately trying to ignore how she felt as if she had just been stabbed in the chest. She was quite surprised at how much his comment hurt her. She was more then aware that he couldn't have said 'yes', sweep her off her feet, and give her a huge speech on his undying love for her, as if she were in some sort of cliched romance novel. For one thing, that was and never would be Ronald Weasley, and secondly, she never expected him to feel that way. So, if she knew that, why did it make her want to lie on the cold ground beneath her, curl into a ball and hope that she'd never have to get up again?

Discovering that someone didn't love you shouldn't be that painful, should it? It wasn't as if she was in love with him, at least that's what she told herself. It was impossible. She couldn't be in love with Ron. She just couldn't.

When she heard Lavender whimper, Hermione quickly remembered what was happening between Ron and Lavender and it dawned on her that she should have left a long time ago. She glanced at Ron to see him looking down at his feet ashamed, so she walked towards the Great Hall, wondering why the pain in her chest was refusing to leave.

Once she walked inside, she noticed how some people at the ends of the tables closest to the doors had stopped talking, since they were able to hear Ron and Lavender. They all gave her curious looks, which she avoided as she made her way over to Harry and Ginny, who happened to be part of the group that could hear Ron and Lavender.

"What's going on?" Ginny asked concerned, appearing conflicted on whether she should stay where she was or go out to her brother. Harry was looking the exact opposite since it appeared as if he'd feel awkward if he had been out with Ron.

"She knows he's trying to break-up with her," Hermione said, telling a small part of the truth, once she sat down opposite the couple. Harry nodded and took a bite of his toast while Ginny sighed angrily.

"I swear, if she starts crying deliberately, I won't hesitate in hexing her arse." Ginny snapped, knowing Ron's weakness of crying girls. Hermione chose not to disclose how Lavender had already tried that, since she knew the truth behind Ginny's words.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!" They all heard Lavender wail horribly, gaining the attention of more students. Ginny tensed, as if she were getting ready to jump up at any moment that Lavender said the slightest inappropriate thing, while Harry attempted to continue eating his breakfast, acting oblivious to the whole ordeal. Hermione silently prayed that Ron would stand up for himself, but she somehow knew that would only ever be wishful thinking.

"THIS ENTIRE TIME YOU'VE BEEN LYING TO ME!" Lavender continued wailing in the same tone, spluttering slightly from how hard she was crying.

"I – I'm sorry Lavender, I didn't mean too. I was just lonely." Ron answered in a much quieter tone to hers, but was still audible from how the level of noise in the hall had dropped dramatically.

"Lonely? That's no excuse! The whole time you've been with me, you've never actually felt anything towards me?" She said in disbelief and misery.

"I'm really sorry, you have to believe that I didn't want to hurt you." He practically begged, making Hermione ache.

"Stop lying to me! You used me this whole fucking time so you can just feel better about yourself!" She shrieked, no longer sounding upset but furious.

"No! I..." He trailed off, making it all the more clear that what Lavender had said had been true. "I was just so miserable when we got together that I didn't really think it through. I never meant for this to go on as long as this-"

"What? You thought you could just have some fun with me for one night and pretend nothing happened the next day?" She shouted, and when there was nothing but silence as a response, Hermione knew that was possibly the worst thing Ron could have done. What they next heard sounded like Lavender had slapped him across the face and Harry had to grab Ginny's wrist to stop her from getting up and throttling Lavender.

"It looks as if you've finally got what you wanted! I don't even know why I bothered trying anything with you. I should have expected it from a Slytherin."

Hermione didn't even think about what she did next. All of her previous pain had vanished because her anger had shot up to boiling point. She instinctively stood up, as did Ginny and Harry, and the three of them ran into the Entrance Hall, to see Lavender was making her way towards the grand staircase.

"You bitch." Ginny mumbled to herself, glaring at Lavender's back and pulled out her wand, before hurrying after her.

"Gin, wait!" Harry said, but Ginny didn't stop. He figured he should stop her from doing something she'd regret, so he rushed after her.

Hermione contemplated going too but when she looked at Ron, she knew where she wanted to be.

He was in the exact same position that she had left him in, he was looking down at his feet ashamed. The only difference was that this time he was sporting a painfully red mark on his cheek, proving that Lavender had actually slapped him.

Hermione took a few cautious steps towards him and he looked up at her, giving her an awkward smile. She returned it and (upon closer inspection) noticed how sore his cheek looked.

"Are you okay?" She asked, gesturing towards it.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll be fine." He said, and she somehow knew he wasn't just talking about his cheek. His smile slowly dissolved and Hermione walked over to him so she was in front of him.

"You know what she said was utter rubbish, don't you?" Hermione said. He didn't answer, but he didn't have too, she knew from the look in his eye that he believed it. "It is, Ron. You aren't like them, what you did is nothing like what Malfoy or anyone else like that would do to someone."

"I did though. She was right. I only got with her to feel better about myself." He said miserably, and Hermione gazed at him sympathetically. She took another step towards him and contemplated taking his hand in hers before thinking better of it.

"You deserve to feel better about yourself though. More than anyone I know." She stated, firmly believing every word she said. His ears turned pink and a hopeful smile spread across his face.

"You mean that?" He said.

"Absolutely."

He beamed at her and she smiled in relief.

A little while later, Harry and Ginny returned. Ginny looked positively radiant whereas Harry was rather out of breath, and Hermione couldn't help but notice how tightly he was gripping onto Ginny's hand.

"What did you do?" Hermione asked, knowing there was a reason behind Ginny's smug smile.

"Oh, nothing too horrible. Although, I'm not really sure how well it worked, but the Bat Bogey Hex hasn't failed me yet." Ginny answered gleefully, not noticing how Ron awkwardly started scratching the back of his neck, unsure if Lavender really deserved it. Hermione merely rolled her eyes in response, surprising Harry and Ginny.

"That's it? No lecture about the misuse of magic outside of classes?" Ginny said in disbelief.

"No. She deserved it after what she said." Hermione said casually, taking all three of them a back.

"Hermione, are you feeling okay?" Harry asked hesitantly, making Hermione sigh.

"Yes, Harry, I'm perfectly fine. She's lucky in fact, I know a good few hexes myself." Hermione said, and Ron looked Hermione up and down, as if he were trying to identify whether it was really her or not.

"Blimey Hermione, I've never seen this side of you." Ron said admirably, unintentionally staining her cheeks pink.

"Well, Hermione's just really protective over the people she cares about." Ginny explained with a small smirk. Hermione gave her a warning look and Ron swallowed, suddenly realising he had a dry throat. They both glanced at eachother awkwardly, trying to hide how they were really feeling.

"Wait, Hermione say that again." Harry said, and Hermione blinked a few times, not entirely sure what he was getting at.

"What? About me being perfectly fine?" She asked, with furrowed eyebrows.

"No, the bit after that." He said, causing everyone to look at him confused.

"About her knowing some hexes?" Ginny said, and Harry shook his head.

"No, you said, she was lucky. Lucky..." Harry thought about it for a moment before grinning. "That's it! That's how I'll get Slughorn's memory! I'll use the lucky potion!"

Hermione and Ginny looked at eachother dumbfounded, both wondering why they hadn't managed to think of it sooner.

"Tha- that's brilliant, Harry." Ginny complimented, making him beam.

"Yes, it's perfect. When do you think you can do it?" Hermione asked, and Ron furrowed his eyebrows perplexed.

"I don't know but I guess the sooner, the better, since Dumbledore stressed how important it was." Harry said, and Hermione and Ginny nodded in agreement.

Ron looked between the three of them before asking,

"Urr, does somebody mind telling me what the hell is going on?"

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><p><strong>A:N I suspect more rejoicement is happening now. **

**So tomorrow's my last exam! Which mean more time for writing YAY but there's another issue that's come up over the last few days which might stop me from writing altogether. I'm sure you guys have heard of the SOPA issue and while that's been dropped, there's another one called ACTA which essentially does what SOPA wanted to do (stop all kinds of copyright from happening over the internet by monitering everyone on the internet) but this one is worse since it concerns all of Europe, Japan and so on, basically doing this to half of the world, and it even goes as far as to affect healthcare. Anyway, my point is if this is passed then that'll mean no more of this story simply because fanfiction does breach copyright. But we can try and stop this from happening!**

**Here are a few petitions you can sign:**

**www[]accessnow[]org/page/s/just-say-no-to-acta**

**www[]petitiononline[]**

**submissions[]epetitions[]direct[]gov[]uk/petitions/20685**

**Just do what you have to do with the song links I provide; copy, paste, remove the closed brackets and replace with fullstops. We have to act fast since the final signing is happening next week! So please spread the word if you can! If you're looking for more information about it there's plenty of videos on youtube explaining it and wikipedia has a page about it.**

**Needless to say if this thing does pass then this will be the last you'll hear from me and this story so I just wanted to say quickly I've had a great time writing it and hope you all have enjoyed reading it so far. Lets hope it doesn't pass though, and if it doesn't then you can expect the usual update in 2 weeks!**

**Thanks for reading and all the reviews!**


	21. Chapter 21

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter; www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=MGKEexrjwyU**

**Copy, paste and replace the close brackets with full stops.**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 21

The Looming Darkness

"_I dive in at the deep end,_

_You've become my best friend_

_I want to love you_

_But I don't know if I can."_

_X & Y – Coldplay  
><em>

The next two months passed just as Hermione had suspected they would. Lavender had become even more hostile towards her then before and was spending most of her time crying. Hermione had been slightly sympathetic at first but it had been difficult to remain that way after being insulted by Lavender everytime she entered the same room as her.

It was as if Lavender was holding onto some vain hope that by doing this to Hermione, it would somehow stop her from spending time with Ron. It was clearly a lost cause though because now that Lavender was out of Ron's life and George was out of Hermione's, Ron and Hermione had virtually been inseperable. The only time they weren't together was when they had to sleep and that amount of time seemed to be getting shorter and shorter as each day passed.

It was for this reason alone that they were spending their Saturday night with him teaching her how to fly. If this had been a night before Hermione had met Ron, she would probably be studying before getting a good night's rest. Instead, she was doing something she never expected she would ever contemplate doing and it was more then likely that they would end up staying out past curfew. It should have been surprising at how little she cared, but she could no longer say she was surprised by anything she did for Ron.

"Come on, Hermione. Don't get your wand in a knot over it." Ron said to her, as they stood in the empty Quidditch pitch. He was hovering on his broom a little off of the ground and was waiting for her to get on. She was stood a few feet away, looking apprehensively at the broom, trying to ignore the weight in her stomach.

"Would you be saying the same thing if someone was trying to get you to hold a spider?" She answered, which quickly shut him up. She tried calming herself down, telling herself that the chances of anything happening to her were slim, but it was no use. She knew the cold hard facts about flying and the possibility of her falling and dying were very high indeed.

Ron must have noticed this from seeing her chewing her lip and, instead of thinking lewd thoughts like he usually would about it, he saw how scared she truly was.

"Hermione, don't worry so much about it. It seems a bit scary at first, but when you're up in the sky, it's brilliant. You just forget about everything and it's the most relaxed you'll ever feel." Ron explained, and she glanced at him to see a completely at ease expression on his face. A smile spread across his face as he remembered the feeling and the weight in Hermione's stomach disappeared.

She'd never thought of flying as being a stress relief before, she always assumed it was something you'd get a thrill out of which was why she always thought Quidditch had been such a dangerous sport.

"Is that why you were always late then? To our tutoring sessions?" She asked, and he blinked a few times as he came out of his daze. Once he realised what she had asked him, he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

"Well, yeah. I'd really try to remember to be on time but it was difficult. You could be flying for an hour and think it was only a few minutes." He admitted.

"But you started being on time after awhile, so did you stop flying?" She said, and a blush crept up his neck.

"Sort of, I just didn't do it as much." He replied, and she furrowed her eyebrows.

"How come?"

"I didn't want to forget about everything anymore." He stated, staring directly at her. She found herself staring straight back into his eyes and all of her anxiety seemed to melt away since she knew he was talking about her.

"I think I'm ready now." She said, and he beamed. She returned the smile and walked towards him. She shakily placed her hands on the broom and took a deep breath before getting on it. She tried to ignore how her heart felt as if it was pounding in her ears and gripped the broom tightly, not noticing how her hands had started sweating.

"Are you okay?" He asked, turning his head back slightly.

"Just give me a minute." She said in an oddly high pitched tone, trying to get used to the sensation of her feet not touching the ground. She looked down and swallowed, telling herself not to panic which did absolutely nothing.

Ron could feel how heavily she was breathing against the back of his neck and it took all of his self control not to shiver from it. He guessed she was still terrified and when he turned around to look at her, her expression only confirmed it.

"Hey," He said, placing a comforting hand on top of hers, nearly making her jump as she looked back at him. He instantly took his hand off hers, seeing her reaction, and scolded himself for doing it in the first place.

But, she wanted his hand back on hers. She'd simply been surprised at how much his touch affected her. It had shot electricity straight through her and had sent her heart racing. Although, at the same time, it had been incredibly relaxing since it had reminded her that she wasn't alone.

Ron forced himself not to get embarrassed and looked into her eyes.

"I won't let anything happen to you, all right?" He said determinedly, and like before, her anxiety melted away and she nodded. Ron gave her a reassuring smile and turned back around as Hermione braced herself before he shot up into the sky.

Nothing could have prepared her for what she experienced. She let out a short scream when the bitterly cold wind rushed past her, causing her hair to whip across her face. She quickly decided that gripping onto the broom wasn't safe enough so she flung her arms around Ron's waist and buried her head in his back, squeezing her eyes shut.

He hadn't realised that the speed he took off at was that terrifying for her, but the moment he heard her scream and felt her arms clutch around his waist, he immediately slowed down. He didn't want to scare her anymore by jolting to a sudden halt so he did it gradually, until they were hovering in the air again. Only this time it was roughly about twenty feet off of the ground.

He didn't want her to remove her arms around him, after all he had spent many nights dreaming about it, but she was literally holding him in a death like grip and he was having trouble breathing.

"Hermione, can you loosen your hold a bit?" He wheezed out, but she tightened her hold on him even more.

"How high up are we?" She mumbled into the back of his shirt, not daring to look down.

"A few feet." He said hesitantly, and tried to shift slightly so she wasn't holding him in such a painful way. "Please, Hermione, I can't breathe."

She loosened her hold a bit and hesitantly opened an eye, but the moment she saw how only the night sky was in front of her, she tensed again.

Ron must have felt this as he said strongly, "Don't worry. I promise, I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

Hearing him repeating himself, reminded her that he was with her. She trusted him and knew he would stay true to his word.

He hesitantly placed his hand on tops of hers on his stomach and this time she didn't flinch. It caused the exact same reaction within her, but she had been expecting it so she was able to revel in the feeling. She let out a long breath, that she hadn't realised she'd been holding in, and opened both of her eyes.

She allowed herself to actually look at the night sky without being scared and she was quite surprised at just how beautiful it was. She managed to loosen her hold on Ron, but her arms still remained around him.

He felt safe in starting to fly again, but he remained at the height they were at and went very slowly with only a soft breeze blowing past them.

Without her fear blinding her, Hermione was finally seeing what Ron had meant about flying. It was incredibly relaxing and as long as she only focussed on the stars rather than the ground, it remained that way.

"It's beautiful up here." She commented, looking at the castle. He smiled lopsidedly and glanced in the direction she was looking at.

"Sure is."

He wanted to say something else, but he had no idea what, so he stayed silent. No words needed to be said though. Hermione was content with simply being with him. It was clearly a personal experience for him, since he had spent many years with it being a form of escape, and she was grateful that he had allowed her to share something like that with him.

Up until this point, she hadn't realised how her arms were still around him but now that she was aware of it, her stomach filled with warmth and she unconciously licked her lips. She pressed her hands against him more and chewed her lip, feeling how firm he was.

She was tempted to slide her hands a little lower so she could feel his stomach. But, she knew she shouldn't and it was for that reason she let out a long sigh and said, "I think we should be getting back inside now."

"Okay." Ron answered, kind of glad she had said it. He wasn't sure how much more he could take of her touching him. He had forced himself to think about anything except her so nothing embarrassing would happen to him. He could just picture her mortified expression from realising she could cause _that_ kind of reaction within him.

He slowly brought them back down to the ground and Hermione couldn't help but wonder why she had been so terrified. Flying had been wonderful.

"We should do that again sometime." She said confidently, and he raised an eyebrow up at her as he balanced his broom on his shoulder while holding the end of it.

"Take it you're not scared anymore?" He said, as they started walking.

"Well, it's not nearly as bad when you're not rushing around like in Quidditch." She explained, tucking her hair behind her ears. She glanced at him, hesitating a little, before saying, "And it also helped having you there."

His eyebrows shot up and he looked at her surprised. "Really?"

"Of course. It was a lot less daunting being up there, knowing I wasn't alone on that broom." She said, and noticed how he seemed a little disheartened by her explanation.

"Oh, yeah. Guess it would with anyone being with you." He replied, and it quickly became clear to her about why he was hurt.

"Not anyone, just you."

He stopped walking and gave her a look of disbelief. She also stopped walking a few steps later, and turned around so they were facing one another.

"How do you mean?" He asked, and she took a deep breath, not letting herself think about what she was about to say. She knew if she did she'd never say it in fear for his response and she needed to let it out.

"You've helped me in so many ways, Ron. I was so unhappy before I met you, but I didn't realise it then. I didn't like who I was and I was this horrible person to everyone because of it. I really had no one I could open up to and I never knew how much that had affected me over the years. There were times where I felt isolated and overwhelmed by everything and instead of telling anyone about it, I let it bottle up inside of me so I became quite a hostile person because of it.

"But then I met you, and I could really be myself around you. I didn't have to hold anything back and you accepted me for exactly who I was. You didn't want to change me but, in a way, you did. You made me happy. You've made me a better person and because of that, I trust you. A lot more then I trust some people I've known for years, so I knew you meant what you said - how I wouldn't be scared, and I wasn't, because I was with you."

She ignored the part of her that told her not to, and looked at him. He seemed to be stunned by her proclamation as he stood completely still with wide eyes and she started biting her lip nervously, wondering if she had perhaps said too much.

What he did next surprised her. He strode towards her with complete determination in his eyes and threw his broomstick to the ground before pulling her into his arms. His arms wrapped around her back and he rested his head over her shoulder, holding onto her so tightly that only the tips of her toes were touching the ground.

Similar to his initial response, she remained motionless, because she couldn't believe what was actually happening. Once she had managed to get over it though, she instantly wrapped her arms back around his shoulders and buried her face in his neck.

"Thank you." He said, and she unconciously tightened her hold on him. "I'm shite with words, you know that, but I want you to know, I feel exactly the same way."

She didn't need him to say anything else since, in his own way, it had been perfect. He needed her in the same way she needed him and that was all that mattered.

She smiled and closed her eyes, nearly trembling when his hands ran up her back a little. She breathed in his scent as he moved even closer towards her, and that was when everything changed.

Every part of him was pressed against her and it filled her stomach with warmth as her middle started pounding. His chest was right up against hers in a way that should have been slighty caustrophobic but was actually stimulating. She could feel how his heart was beating just as erratically as hers and the thought that he could be feeling something similar to her sent her blood rushing through her veins with a fiery intensity.

She could feel his hip bones against hers which only made the pounding in her middle increase. She unintentionally dug her fingers into him a little, because of the sensation their embrace was causing within her, and she expected him to pull away. But he didn't.

Instead, he ran his hands down to her lower back and pulled her against him even more so they virtually grinded against eachother. She let out a small gasp from it as it sent a jolt right through to her toes and, she couldn't be sure, but it felt as if-

Suddenly, he had pulled away from her. He still had his hands on her shoulders but there was an unmistakable gap between them. He was looking at her alarmed, as if he couldn't believe what he had just done.

"I-I'm sorry." He stuttered, with his ears turning bright red.

"Don't be." She said, almost slurring, making his brows furrow, but she didn't have time to elaborate.

"Ron! Hermione!" They heard Ginny exclaim, and they both jumped apart, before looking in the direction they heard her from. She was running up to them, looking completely out of breath, but when she got to them, she couldn't help but notice how flustered and flushed the pair of them were.

"Am I interrupting something?" She said coyly, only causing both of them to blush more.

"No." They both said in unison, and Ginny looked between them both, not believing them. She shook her head in disbelief but remembered why she had rushed down to them in the first place.

"Okay, this is going to sound well - mad, but Harry's just left with Dumbledore." She said, putting both Ron and Hermione into a state of shock.

"What?" They both exclaimed in unison.

"He said that Slughorn's real memory explained more about what a Horcrux was and how it links to Voldemort. Dumbledore thought there was no time left to waste so they have gone to find and destroy one of them." Ginny explained hurriedly.

"Wait – there's more then one of these Horcrux things?" Ron asked, picking back up his broomstick and Ginny nodded, as they all started walking back to the castle.

"Anyway, because he and Dumbledore are gone, he reckons that Snape and Malfoy are probably going to do something, so he asked me to get together as many people as I could to stop them."

"But, we don't even have any proof that they're up to something." Hermione said, and Ginny shrugged her shoulders.

"Has that ever mattered to Harry before?" Ginny asked simply, and Hermione reluctantly admitted that she had a good point. "He gave us the Marauder's Map and Felix Felicis for the three of us. He also suggested we use the D.A coins to round up a few more people."

"Hang on, what's the point though? If we don't even know if they're up to anything then-" Ron started, which only caused Ginny to glower at him.

"Because he asked us too! He's out there, putting his life at risk _again_, and I'll be damned if I can't help him in any way I can, no matter how ridiculous it sounds or may seem!" Ginny snapped bitterly, taking Ron aback.

In that moment, it became clear to him and Hermione that Ginny was actually terrified for Harry, despite her previously calm composure.

"So how many people have you got so far?" Hermione asked, as a way of breaking the tension.

"Just mentioned it to Fred and George on my way here, I thought it was important I let you two know as soon as possible." Ginny answered, as they walked into the Entrance Hall.

Hermione wasted no time in fetching her D.A coin and changed the date and time on it, so it would say a meeting was needed in half an hour. After she did that, she quickly made her way to the spot just outside the Room of Requirement where Ron was checking if the room was blocked.

"Any luck?" She asked him, and he shook his head, looking at the wall infront of him.

"No, I did exactly what you said but nothing's worked." He answered, and she let out a tired sigh.

"Oh well, it's not as if I was expecting a different result. Where's Ginny?" She asked, looking around.

"Gone to find Luna, and then she'll try getting a few people from Ravenclaw to help." Ron explained, and the two stood in a slightly awkward silence a few minutes. They both were replaying what had happened the last time they were alone together and neither were sure how to act around the other because of it.

Ron eventually pulled the small bottle of Felix Felicis out of his pocket and said, "Ginny's already had her share of it so do you want to have yours now?"

"I suppose now is better then at any other time." Hermione said, and Ron handed her the potion. She roughly estimated how much she could have before taking a few gulps. Her insides instantly filled with warmth and a smile spread across her face. She felt on top of the world.

She offered it back to Ron where he couldn't help looking bemused at her expression and took a small sip himself.

"Do you want the rest of it? I don't think I'll need it." He said, and she looked at him strangely, the smile never leaving her face.

"Don't be ridiculous, you need it just as much as I do." She said, in a tone that resembled Luna's more than her own one, and he shook his head.

"No, it's better if you have it." He insisted, and she stopped smiling, even though she was still feeling incredibly happy from the potion.

"No, we agreed to divide it equally between eachother." She replied, and he let out an aggravated noise.

"Look, would you just take it? None of us know how tonight might turn out and you need it more then me." He said heatedly.

"And why exactly do I need it more then you?" She replied, hoping this wasn't to do with his low opinion of himself.

"Because I meant what I said before. I'm not going to let anything happen to you and this is just another way of making sure of that." He said strongly, and her expression softened completely while her stomach flipped.

"But I don't want anything to happen to you either." She said, taking a step towards him. He looked conflicted for a few moments but she guessed the lucky potion was already working since he gave in and swallowed the rest of the potion.

It didn't take long for everyone else to arrive. Ginny and Luna had tried to get a few people from Ravenclaw, but they hadn't been very successful as it seemed no-one wanted to help with something that Loony Lovegood was involved in. They quickly gave up on trying to get people involved and had stopped by the Gryffindor common room to get Fred and George before going to Ron and Hermione. Ginny counted herself lucky that Neville had actually seen the D.A call and was eager to help, since it was evident no-one else was willing.

While they were making their way towards Ron and Hermione, she couldn't help but glance at George. It had been weeks and they still hadn't even spoken to eachother since they'd both made it their task to avoid eachother at all costs.

She worried slightly at how he was going to be with Ron. Ron had been very careful not to mention where he and George stood in terms of their friendship. All she could do was hope that they would all be able to put their past behind them and focus on the more important matters at hand.

Ron, Ginny and Hermione briefly explained what they were planning to do, and it seemed as if everyone was just as skeptical about the idea as Ron and Hermione had initially been. The only person who was siding with Ginny was Luna, who said,

"Harry has been wrong occasionally, but I do trust him, so we may as well come up with a plan."

"I was thinking that it'd be best if we split up into two groups, so one group will stay here and keep an eye on Malfoy, while the other group does the same for Snape." Ginny said, surprising everyone because they thought Hermione would have been the one to take charge.

"That does sound like the best idea." Luna said enthusiastically, and everyone nodded in agreement, feeling better about the situation now that they had a basic plan to work with.

"So how we gonna divide ourselves up?" Fred asked.

"I thought it'd be best if we remained as inconspicuous as possible, so the more Gryffindors that stay up here, the better - since we have a better excuse if a teacher comes along." Ginny suggested, which was fair enough as the Room of Requirement was located on the same floor as the Gryffindor common room.

Ginny then turned towards Ron with a slightly apologetic expression.

"I'm sorry, Ron, but it would be easier if you were one of the people that kept an eye out on Snape. You just have a better excuse to be outside his office if a teacher comes along and asks why we're there." Ginny explained, not really liking how she was singling Ron out. He couldn't deny that he was a little hurt by it, but he knew that there was a lot more at stake so he put on a brave face.

"'Course, no problem, so is it just going to be me and Luna patrolling outside Snape's office?" He asked, and Ginny shook her head.

"I'll go with you two as well, I think if there were just two of you, it would be too easy for Snape to do something, if he is up to anything." Ginny said.

Hermione was beginning to wonder about how much thought Ginny had put into this plan, since it was hardly the sort of thing she could come up with spontaneously.

"That means Hermione, Fred, George and Neville will stay up here. It's more then likely that Malfoy will have Crabbe and Goyle with him so more of you should be here." Ginny finished.

"Seems fair enough. Who's going to have the map though?" George asked, and that seemed to be the only question Ginny didn't know the answer too.

"I reckon we should have it. It's more likely that Malfoy will be up to something then Snape and Malfoy would probably head down to the dungeons if he manages to escape from you guys, so we could see him coming and try and corner him or something." Ron rambled, doing his best to hide the real reason why he wanted to have the map. He reckoned he'd probably go out of his mind with worry if he couldn't at least make sure Hermione was safe in some way, even if it wasn't the best way he could. Thankfully, the Felix Felicis was working so no-one seemed to think of this.

"That does sound best." Hermione said, and Ron's gaze flashed towards her. He couldn't prevent the grin that spread across his face which made her smile back at him. They both quickly remembered who was in their presence though so they stopped and turned their attention back to the rest of the group.

Hermione unintentionally glanced at George and she couldn't be sure, but there seemed to the faintest sign of a smile on his face.

"Okay, we should head down to Snape's office since the map says he's there." Ginny said, folding the map up.

"How long should we stay out for?" Neville asked.

"We should stay out as long as Harry and Dumbeldore are gone." Luna answered honestly, not appearing to care that it could be several hours until they returned. Neville looked unsure about the idea as did Ron, Fred and George. Hermione shared a look with Ginny, who's eyes were silently pleading with her to come up with something.

"I hate to say it but we really have no other option. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long if they are up to something though. It wouldn't make sense for them to hang around and waste time they don't have because they don't know when Harry and Dumbledore will be back either." Hermione said, and the others looked a lot more confident again. Ginny mouthed a thankyou to her which she shrugged off.

"We should get going then." Luna stated.

"Yes, be careful, don't do anything stupid." Ginny said, specifically aiming the last part at Fred and George.

"When have we ever done anything to make you think differently, Gin?" Fred said playfully, and she shook her head in disbelief. Hermione rolled her eyes but a small smile spread across her features. She looked over at Ron and the smile slipped off her face.

Ron's expression was full of worry. Not even the lucky potion could mask the uneasy feeling in his stomach. He looked at Ginny and Luna, who were walking away, before switching his gaze back to Hermione. He desperately wanted to stay so he could keep her out of harms way. She'd already been through several life threatening situations and he hated the idea of her possibly going through another one. Then again, there might not even be a life threatening situation. Harry could be wrong about Snape and Malfoy, he'd return with Dumbledore safely and tomorrow they'd all be laughing over the situation. Somehow though, Ron knew that wouldn't be the case.

He nervously ran a hand through his hair, knowing what he had to do was more important then what he wanted, and reluctantly said,

"Take care of yourself, yeah?"

His eyes were showing just how concerned he was about her and she felt her heart swell from the intensity of his gaze. He was silently begging with her to stay safe and she swallowed down the lump in her throat.

"Of course I will, you better follow your own advice as well." She answered, knowing that if it came down to it, Ron wouldn't hesitate in sacrificing himself for somebody else. He nodded and a part of her wanted nothing more then to throw her arms around him and never let him go. However, she couldn't, not only because they had to do this, but also because of the audience they had and who was among it.

Instead, he started walking away, regretfully tearing his eyes off of her so he could focus on his brothers.

"You prats better do what Ginny says." He said, a slight smile tugging at his lips.

"'Course. We'll make sure everyone does." George answered, giving him a reassuring smile. Ron's expression mirrored his for a few moments before he hurried after Ginny and Luna.

Hermione found herself smiling as well. It was as if nothing had ever happened between the two boys.

* * *

><p>"Ron, can you put that map down for two seconds?" Ginny said irritably, leaning back against the wall behind her with crossed arms. It appeared that Ron hadn't heard her since his eyes remained fixated on the same person's name on the map.<p>

"He can't help it, Ginny. You would be doing the same thing if you could see Harry on the map." Luna said, unintentionally reminding Ginny that she couldn't. A look of worry spread across her features for a second but then it was gone. Luna stared at Ginny blankly before returning her gaze to the ceiling, where she had been looking previously.

"What do you suppose he's doing in there?" Ginny asked, looking at the door to Snape's office, which he hadn't left once in the past hour.

"There are a number of possibilities." Luna replied, and ran a finger down the wall. "It's awfully cold and damp down here, I wonder if the common room is like this."

Ron didn't answer but Luna thought nothing of it as she hadn't really been expecting him too.

Ginny sighed and looked at Ron out of boredom. Seeing the look of immense concentration on his face, she let out a small snort and it was as if Ron had just been jolted awake.

"Oh come on! We've been trying to get your attention for the past ten minutes and snorting was all I had to do to get it? Maybe I should try transforming into a pig or something." Ginny said, and Ron smiled.

"You'd be a lot more attractive that way." He replied, and Ginny scowled at him while giving him a rude hand gesture. His attention quickly returned to the map and Ginny couldn't help smiling a little.

Seeing him behave the way he was, she realised that what Ron felt for Hermione was the exact same thing that she felt for Harry. And, well, she'd been sure that she'd fallen in love with Harry at the age of ten when she first saw him at King's Cross Station. While she admitted she was wrong about her feelings then, that certainly couldn't be said for what she felt for him now.

* * *

><p>Hermione was pacing the width of the corridor outside the Room of Requirement, chewing on her thumb nail anxiously, the effects of the lucky potion now long gone. She didn't even care that there was a noticeable tension in the air as all her thoughts were focussed on one person.<p>

It wasn't as if he was used to being in situations like this so it made sense for her to worry. She had to admit that he had been in a traumatic experience before, his third year was enough evidence of that, but she couldn't stop herself from fretting over him. If Snape was up to something with Draco, what levels would he go to in order to complete it? He had been a Death Eater, after all, so it wasn't necessarily beneath him to use dark magic if needed. An image of Ron being put under the cruciatus curse appeared in her mind and she had to stop walking in order to breathe properly from it.

She suddenly wished that she had fought harder for the map now. She didn't care if it made more sense for him to have it, she needed to make sure he was all right.

She started chewing her lip when she seriously began considering on checking up on him.

"Don't worry about him, Hermione." Neville said, seeing her fretting. Her eyes went wide and she turned around to look at him leaning against the wall.

"Who?" She asked, praying that she hadn't been too obvious.

"Harry. He's with Dumbledore, he'll be okay." Neville answered with a comforting smile, and a wave of relief washed over Hermione.

"Yes, yes. Of course, you're right. Sorry, it's just a little hard not to worry about him sometimes."

She felt guilty from lying to Neville, and also from needing to lie in the first place. Harry was probably in a far more difficult situation then the one they were in. Whatever these 'Horcruxes' were that Voldemort had, he was hardly going to make it easy to find them and Hermione couldn't bare to think of the sick, twisted ways he would force people to go through in order to get them.

It therefore seemed as if she should be worrying about Harry more, but it still didn't change the fact she was more concerned for Ron.

"Hermione." She heard George say, causing her eyebrows to raise. She turned around and saw him taking a deep breath before saying, "Listen, I've been meaning to talk-"

He trailed off as his eyes focussed on what was behind her and he pulled out his wand. Hermione whipped around and saw that the door to the Room of Requirement had appeared.

The four of them instinctively formed into a straight line and brandished their wands in front of them like weapons. Hermione was about to say what they should do, but the door had already opened and the four of them instantly started throwing every spell they could think of at the door. It was pointless though as it seemed that no-one was going to come out.

"Wait!" Hermione exclaimed, and they stopped, but still no-one came through. Hermione bit her lip, starting to think that they should have waited until they had seen Draco walk out before attacking. It dawned on her how they had just given away their position.

Her thoughts were confirmed when a small black object was thrown out towards them and a burst of smoke exploded out of it, completely blinding them.

"That wanker! Using our own product against us!" Fred snapped, proving that Draco had used Peruvian Instant Darkness powder. Hermione blinked several times and tried to wave her hand in front of her, but it was to no avail as all she saw was black.

"Now!" She heard Draco shout, and he ran out. All of a sudden, spells were flying everywhere. There were far too many for it just to be Draco, Crabbe and Goyle and she felt her blood rush through her veins realising it. The darkness was refusing to dissolve so she had no idea where George, Fred and Neville were and it was because of this that she was reluctant to cast some spells of her own. She didn't want to accidentally hit one of them so all she did was cast various shielding charms around her.

Then she heard it. The unmistakable cackle that belonged to Bellatrix Lestrange. Shivers crept up Hermione's spine and it occurred to her that they really had no idea what they were up against. She could no longer afford to worry about hitting Neville, Fred or George, now that there were Death Eaters in the castle.

She should have considered herself lucky that the smoke was starting to dissolve but who she saw in front of her made her skin crawl. He was the most bestial man she'd ever laid eyes upon. He had a vicious appearance to him with his pointed teeth and long nails but it was his eyes that truly scared her. They were so piercing and were leering at her in a way that made her feel sick.

The smoke had now cleared and she noticed in her peripheral vision how Fred, George and Neville were busy battling other Death Eaters. She gulped.

"Stupefy!" She snapped, but the curse simply rebounded off her attacker's tough skin. He literally let out a bark of noise at her failed attempt of stunning him and her heart started racing in fear.

"I'm gonna have some fun with you tonigh'." He practically growled, making it clear that he was who she suspected him to be. He was Fenrir Greyback.

* * *

><p>"Look Ron, I know you're worried about Hermione, which is perfectly understandable, but could you at least try and talk to us a bit? I don't care if you still have to look at the map, but we've been here for hours and it's boring as hell without being able to talk to you. No offence, Luna." Ginny said, and Luna waved her off.<p>

"It's all right Ginny, I've been growing bored myself." Luna admitted dreamily, staring at her wand as she flicked it so it produced some sparks.

Ron furrowed his eyebrows as he realised the spot he had been staring at suddenly had more names to it. There were so many on the parchment, it made it difficult to make out the peoples' names as it appeared as more of a jumble of letters.

"See, you're not even listening to me now." Ginny grumbled, crossing her arms.

"Just shut up for a second, Gin. I think Malfoy's out the room now, but I can't really tell." Ron said, bringing the map closer to his face.

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked, all her previous irritation now gone.

"There must have been a whole group of people in there with him but I can't..." Ron now saw that Draco had managed to run down the corridor with a few people closely tailing him. When he recognised the name of one of them, his eyes doubled in size and he started scrunching up the map.

"We have to go. Now." He stated, and shoved the map in his pocket, not caring if he tore it or not.

"What? No, we can't, Ron. We have to stay here in case-" Ginny said, and he ran a hand through his hair angrily, knowing they didn't have time for this.

"Look, I just saw Bellatrix Lestrange's name on that map so that can only mean the other people are Death Eaters too. Snape can fuck off for all I care, because they need us now." He snapped, and turned around to hurry down the corridor.

"Are you sure you saw them, Ron? How could they have – AH!" Luna said, letting out a small noise of surprise. Ron immediately turned back around to see she was lying face down on the ground unconcious. He glanced towards the end of the corridor where Snape's office door was now wide open.

Ginny made a move to get out her wand but Snape saw what she was doing and wasted no time in throwing a non-verbal spell her way. She was sent flying through the air until she smacked into a wall, before crumpling into an unconcious heap.

Anger flooded through Ron's veins and he whipped out his wand about to bellow a curse when a spell came hurtling towards him. He managed to dodge it but it appeared as if Snape had expected this as another came at him and he was just too slow. It was the same spell that must have been used on Ginny since he was lifted off his feet until he hit the painfully hard stone wall behind him.

As he fell to the ground, he desperately tried to stay awake, knowing there was too much at stake. He needed to help the others against the Death Eaters. He needed to help Hermione. He needed to protect her. He didn't know what he'd do if he lost her.

It was no use though. The spell was too strong for him and he could only make out that Snape was making his way towards him before he was enveloped into darkness.

* * *

><p>Hermione felt rooted to the spot being under the slightly lustful gaze of Fenrir Greyback. Her mind had drawn a complete blank on what she should do. It was clear that no curse she used against him was going to work, since her stunning spell had just rebounded off of him. She tried to think of a more powerful one she could possibly use against him but it was useless. She had no idea what would work on him.<p>

She suddenly remembered there was one thing she could do that would give her a slight advantage.

"Expelliarmus!" She cried, and saw his wand shoot out of his hand. However, he didn't seem to care. He simply sniggered – at least, she assumed the noise he was making was sniggering – and cocked an eyebrow up at her.

"Not gonna be needing that for what I 'av planned with you." He said menacingly, and she swallowed in fear. He had a certain look in his eye that made her feel nauseous.

He suddenly leapt towards her and she only just managed to dodge out of the way in time. Not knowing what else to do, she ran down the corridor as fast as her legs could carry her. Her heart was hammering in her chest in fear as she heard him start to chase after her. She looked back to see he was gaining on her at an alarming rate. Desperate, she threw her arm around her and bellowed the first spell that came into her head.

"Incarcerous!"

Thick ropes shot out of her wand but due to how recklessly she had cast it, they missed Greyback entirely. She looked straight ahead of her again to check how much distance she had left in front of her. She knew if she slowed down that Greyback would manage to catch her so she needed to plan ahead.

She heard someone yell out in pain behind her and she briefly hoped it wasn't George, Fred or Neville.

Still clueless about what she could do, without looking, she aimed her wand back at Greyback and shouted,

"Petrificus totalus!"

When she didn't hear anything, she assumed she missed again so she pushed herself even harder and ran faster, even though her legs were protesting as they ached in exhaustion.

She was just rounding the corner when she suddenly felt herself being pulled back by her hair. It had been so sudden that she'd actually fallen to the ground from it and she let out a noise of pain as her elbow hit the ground first. She instantly tried getting back up but it was pointless, he was still gripping onto her hair. He started dragging her across the floor making her scream in agony, feeling as if he was trying to tear it out of her skull. She desperately tried to take his hands off her hair, making sure she kept a firm grip on her wand, but it was useless. Tears pricked in her eyes and she whimpered in pain, feeling her shirt ride up so her skin was scraping against the stone floor.

Not willing to give up though, she got an idea and went with it. She hastily aimed her wand at where Greyback was holding her hair, praying she didn't accidentally hit herself with the spell.

"Relashio!"

The spell did what she wanted as it went straight through the pieces of her hair he had been gripping onto, so he was left with only a chunk of her hair in his hand. Her head instantly collided with the ground from how abruptly she stopped, making her feel dazed. She blinked several times, only able to see black dots, and wanted nothing more than to lie their motionless. Knowing what the consequences would be, she used all her strength to pull her heavy head up and tried to get back on her feet, when she felt a harsh blow to her stomach. It had been so sudden and severe that she wound up spinning over on the floor a few times before ending up on her side. Her eyes started streaming as she spluttered, having difficulty breathing through the excruciating pain spreading through her from her ribs. It was possible that he could have broken one of them but she didn't have time to dwell on it.

She had been holding her wand so tightly that she still had a hold of it, but it wouldn't have mattered either way. She couldn't see from her blurred vision. She tried turning over, only to flinch back into the position she'd been in from how it caused her even more pain. She lay her head on the ground breathing heavily, wishing for her head to stop pounding. She heard him walking towards her and she was just about to try and get up when there were three bellows of,

"Stupefy!"

The sheer power of the spell being performed by three people would have been enough to knock Greyback out, but because of the intensity behind it, it threw him against the wall behind him with an almighty crash before he fell to the ground unconscious.

Hermione blinked a few times and waited until her vision cleared before tilting her head up slightly so she could see George, Fred and Neville, all of them looking livid. She tried getting up, forgetting for a moment about her broken rib, and gasped from the fracture. The noise seemed to break the boys out of their trance and they all rushed over to help.

"He didn't scratch or bite you, did he?" Neville asked first, crouched down while looking over her.

"No, he just kicked me." Hermione said, wincing slightly as Fred helped her into a sitting position.

"Yeah, we saw that. You went flying, you better go see Pomfrey." Neville advised.

"Not before we tell someone that there are Death Eaters here." She insisted, now standing. She wrapped an arm around her middle, trying not to show how hurt she was.

The others seemed to agree that she had a point and it was Fred that spoke first,

"Okay, George, why don't you go tell McGonagall while I find Ginny, Ron and Luna to let them know what's going on and Neville can help Hermione to the hospital wing."

"I don't need any-" Hermione started.

"Yes, you do." George said in a stern voice that she didn't think she'd ever heard him use before.

"Hang on, the others have the map, don't they? Wouldn't they know what's going on here?" Neville pointed out, causing everyone to tense at the thought of something happening to them. Hermione could have sworn her heart stopped at the possibility of anything happening to Ron.

"I'll go now and check on them. Everyone meet back at the Hospital Wing." Fred instructed, before rushing off, with nothing but concern for his brother and sister in his mind.

"What about the other Death Eaters? You shouldn't go anywhere alone." Hermione said loudly, wincing from how badly it hurt.

"We don't have enough time for that. I'll be as quick as I can." Fred shouted back.

He was lost from sight after that and the others remained silent for a few seconds. They let the seriousness of their situation sink in until they heard a piercing scream not too far away. All of them jumped and were quickly brought back to reality.  
>"All right, stay safe and leave everything to us, okay?" George instructed, specifically to Hermione and she stiffly nodded. He disappeared around the corner and she started chewing her lip, trying not to panic.<p>

She looked at Neville for some support but he was clearly as scared as she was. He felt her staring though and tried to put on a brave face.

"We better get you to the hospital wing then." He said in a shaky voice, and she nodded. As it was only her rib that was broken, she didn't need him to hold her in anyway so they instead walked at a slow enough pace for her.

"What happened to the Death Eaters you were fighting?" She asked, remembering that she never found out what happened.

"Oh - well, I think it must have been you that sent some ropes our way, and they wrapped around the legs of the Death Eater Fred was fighting, so he got knocked down. That gave Fred enough of an advantage to stun him and he then helped me knock out the one I was fighting, but the one fighting George managed to get away." Neville briefly explained.

Considering things could have gone a lot worse, Hermione chose to stay focussed on the fact that they had successfully defeated three Death Eaters, instead of letting her thoughts wonder on what the other one could be doing. She couldn't prevent herself from wondering how many Death Eaters there were actually in the castle. She knew Bellatrix was around somewhere with Draco, but there had been a lot of spells cast from the people that came out of the Room of Requirement. She wouldn't have been surprised if there had been more then ten. She should have considered herself lucky that they had, in all fairness, gotten off quite lightly with what had happened. Maybe the potion was still working then.

As she thought it over though, had it maybe been a little too easy? Had they planned before that those four Death Eaters would stay if there was anyone outside the room? Maybe they were instructed to simply keep her, Fred, George and Neville busy enough so they wouldn't be able to follow Draco.

She could feel a headache coming on with all the possibilities that ran her through her mind and it didn't help when the possibility of Ron being involved somehow entered her mind. Why hadn't he, Ginny and Luna tried to help them? She was sure if they saw on the map that they were battling Death Eaters they would have thought to come and help. Had Snape done something to them so they couldn't? Were they currently lying as unconscious as the Death Eaters her and Neville had left behind?

She was broken out of her thoughts when they made it to the first floor and opened the door to the corridor to find a hooded figure with his back to them. Her eyes doubled in size as they both stopped moving and prayed he didn't hear them enter. They shared a look and carefully backed away, silently closing the door.

"What are we going to do?" Neville said in a hushed tone, knowing the only way to the hospital wing was to use the corridor the Death Eater was currently stood in and, given Hermione's state, they were hardly in a good position to fight him.

Hermione thought for a few seconds before deciding what to do. She aimed her wand at her rib and thought carefully of the incantation before saying,

"Episkey!"

She felt the bone click itself back into place, which was more of a strange feeling than a painful one, and smiled for the first time in hours.

"Why didn't you just do that before?" He asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"I didn't think it would work with a broken rib." She answered honestl.

Neville and Hermione looked at the door before looking back at eachother, knowing what they had to do. They both took a deep breath, gripping their wands tightly, and pushed the door open. Either the Death Eater had heard them before and expected them, or he had simply turned around since he was now facing them. It didn't matter to them as he started sending curse after curse at them.

Neither of them had really been prepared for such an attack and it was for that reason that neither could send a curse back at the Death Eater. They were both too focussed on not being hit themselves. The Death Eater was relentless in his approach, barely leaving a split second before sending another curse. He laughed as they jumped, ducked and dived out of the way and it didn't take long for them to break out into a sweat.

Too many minutes passed with them being taunted like they were. Hermione's whole body was begging for her to stop moving, she could already feel several cuts and bruises coming up on her skin from hitting the wall or floor as a way of dodging a curse.

She barely missed being hit by the cruciatus curse when it became obvious to her that the Death Eater was slowly making his way towards them. She noticed how he was stood next to a large vase and, without thinking, she pointed her wand at it and snapped,

"Confringo!"

She just managed to jump out of the way of a spell he hurtled her way when the vase exploded into a thousand tiny pieces. They covered the Death Eater and he shielded his face with his arm, unintentionally letting his guard down to Neville and Hermione. She used the opportunity to disarm him while Neville tried to curse him but failed. The Death Eater had dived towards his wand at the last second, rendered practically useless without it. He managed to grab hold of it but he was too late.

"Stupefy!" Hermione exclaimed, with the spell hitting him directly in his face. His head ricocheted off of the floor from the force of the spell and he fainted.

Neville and Hermione were both breathing heavily as they took a few seconds to regain some energy. There wasn't a doubt in their minds that they would go and help the others, and they could barely imagine what it would be like up against more then one Death Eater.

Hermione remembered far too well when they had last been up against several Death Eaters in their fifth year. That situation had landed her in the hospital wing for weeks with a permanent ache in her chest, refusing to go even after she left.

Actually, now that she thought about it, she hadn't felt that pain in a long time. It had been weeks, months even since she felt any sort of pain in her chest. Knowing she didn't have time to wonder why, she pushed it out of her mind and wiped the sweat off of her forehead.

"We better go help the others." She said, and Neville nodded, swallowing.

"Where do you think they'd be?" He asked, pushing the door open to the grand staircase and they walked through.

"I don't know, but I guess we'd better check by Snape's office first." She said, which did seem to be the most logical thing to do. They'd only taken a few steps down the staircase when there was a loud crash as someone threw open the doors from the Entrance Hall and stumbled in. They both instantly recognised the flaming red hair.

"Ginny!" They both said in unison. As soon as Ginny saw them, she rushed over to them while they hurried down to her level.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Hermione asked immediately, seeing the fear on Ginny's face. Hermione didn't think there was a time where she had ever seemed so distraught. She was like a child who had lost their mother and was desperately trying to find them again.

"I-it's Ron!" She choked out, making Hermione tense all over.

"What about him?" Neville asked concerned, and Ginny made a face that looked like she was doing her best in holding back her tears.

"We - we don't know where he is! Snape caught us by surprise and managed to stun Luna and me. When I woke up Luna was still with me, in the same place, but Ron was gone." Ginny explained, in a strained tone.

Hermione couldn't believe her suspicions from before were now being proven to be true. It was somehow worse than she imagined and she couldn't bare to think about what had happened to him. She knew that Ron would never have left Ginny and Luna alone like that, so that only meant someone had forcibly taken him away from them. Had he perhaps been stunned too and dragged away somewhere? The thought of what could be happening to him made her feel physically sick and horrified at the same time.

It was somewhat ironic that the ache in Hermione's chest was suddenly coming back full-force. She instinctively clutched at her chest and tried breathing in, but couldn't. It was as if her airways had been blocked and no matter how hard she tried, nothing would be able to get through.

She was terrified. Terrified at the thought of anything harming him. He'd already suffered so much and she couldn't bare knowing that it could only be getting worse. What if he was being tortured for information about Harry? It was no secret that they spent time with eachother now, but then, why didn't they just come after her instead? Why did they have to go after him? Why was any of this happening?

"Hermione, what - breathe Hermione!" Ginny said alarmed, and placed a hand on her back. Neville seemed equally as shocked by Hermione's reaction but had no clue about what he should do, so he stayed as he was.

Hermione's heart was racing as she began to feel dizzy, but she managed to start breathing. She had to pull herself together. Panicking was not going to help anyone. She took several deep breaths while Neville and Ginny shared a look over her head.

It took a few minutes for Hermione to visibly calm down, but it became obvious that the feeling of dread wasn't going to pass until she saw Ron was safe and sound. Her heart had just started beating at a regular pace when Ginny asked,

"Hermione, what's happened to your hair? You've got a whole load of it missing."

Instinctively Hermione touched the back of her head and her eyes widened feeling exactly how short some of her hair was. If she'd aimed the 'relashio' spell she used against Greyback just a couple of inches wrong, she didn't want to think of what could have happened to her.

It looked as if Neville was about to explain but she gave him a warning look that made him close his mouth.

"It's a long story, I'll explain later. What's important now is that we try and find Ron." Hermione said confidently, letting her hand fall to her side. Ginny didn't argue.

"But where's Luna?" Neville asked worriedly, and Ginny's eyes doubled in size, as if she had just remembered something she couldn't believe she had forgotten.

"She's in the Entrance Hall with some other people fighting against the Death Eaters."

Neville and Hermione didn't need telling twice. The three of them rushed to the Entrance Hall and upon entering, Hermione couldn't believe what was happening. It was utter chaos. It was just like being back outside the Room of Requirement, except this time everything was painfully clear.

George must have told McGonagall what had happened as she was currently battling a female Death Eater (that Hermione didn't recognise) with Fred's assistance. Not too far away from that, Luna was in a losing fight with another Death Eater, who Hermione recognised was one of the ones they had been battling earlier. They all must have regained consciousness in the time her and Neville had been fighting the Death Eater outside the hospital wing, and a sharp jolt of fear ran through her when she realised what that meant.

Sure enough, Greyback was busy battling against Lupin and Tonks. Hermione didn't have the time to dwell on why or how they were even at Hogwarts as she caught sight of a body lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Her heart sank to her stomach seeing it. When she took in their appearance, she realised she didn't know who they were and relief flowed through her.

There was still a chance that it could happen to someone she knew though, and it was that thought that stayed with her as she held her wand tightly in her hand. She was going to make sure it didn't happen to anyone else.

She rushed forward with Neville and Ginny to assist Luna, and between the four of them it was clear who the victors were going to be. They fought fiercely, shooting any kind of curse that they could think of which quickly overwhelmed the Death Eater. It didn't take him long to give up as he shouted,

"Protego!"

The shield stopped them from using any kind of curse that didn't involve dark magic, and he quickly ran out towards the grounds. Knowing it was more important to stay and fight then to go after him, Hermione turned around to see that McGonagall and Fred had managed to defeat the Death Eater they had been fighting. Instead, they were busy tending to the person who had been lying in the pool of blood. It seemed as if luck wasn't on their side however, because the Death Eater Neville and Hermione had fought before came barging through the doors and sent a curse straight at Fred. Unfortunately, he met his target and Fred went flying through the air before falling into a heap.

"Fred!" Ginny cried out, and without thinking about her own safety, she rushed towards him, falling to the floor by his side. He wasn't unconscious, but he appeared as if he couldn't move from the position he was in. His face was screwed up from the immense amount of pain he was feeling, with his arms wrapped around his middle while he lay in a fetal position.

Hermione instantly cast a shielding charm around them before she went to assist McGonagall. It was obvious that she didn't need assisting though. Just as Hermione went to stand by her side, she managed to put the Death Eater into a full body bind that made him fall to the floor.

McGonagall was breathing heavily as she wiped the sweat from her brow and it looked as if she had suddenly aged ten years. She must have remembered the situation since she swiftly looked around to Lupin and Tonks, who were running out the door after Greyback. She immediately hurried after them, while shouting to the others,

"Stay here and take the injured to the hospital wing."

Hermione looked conflicted for a few moments but reluctantly headed towards Fred, Ginny and Neville. Fred still hadn't moved from his previous position and it looked as if it was impossible for him too.

"Hermione, Neville, can you go get Pomfrey? I don't want to do anything that could hurt him more." Ginny said, while Fred clutched onto her hand tightly and tears welled in her eyes as she never took them off him. Hermione swallowed audibly at the sight and nodded.

"'Course, we will." Neville said in a shaky voice, and they hastily made their way to the hospital wing for the second time that night. When they burst through the doors, they were surprised to see that there were a few people in some beds. Even though she had only met him once, Hermione recognised a sleeping Bill Weasley with vicious looking claw marks etched into his skin. Knowing there was another Weasley that needed help though, her eyes scanned the room for Madam Pomfrey, until she saw that she was stood by a window, looking out of it at the night sky.

"Madam Pomfrey! You have to come with us to the Entrance Hall, Fred Weasley's been badly hurt and can't move, and there's another body there, but we don't know who it is." Hermione explained, hurrying over to her.

Madam Pomfrey seemed unfazed though as her eyes were still fixed upon whatever she was looking at. Hermione glanced out the window and gasped at the sight.

In the night sky, there was the sign of the Dark Mark floating above the Forbidden Forest.

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><p><strong>A:N Was this cliffhanger mean? Probably, but the length of this chapter was getting insane and I felt it needed a little split in it, because lots of drama in this one.**

**I did my research on spells for this one, although I'm not entirely sure if the 'relashio' spell would have worked in the way I used it, but there didn't seem to be anything that said it couldn't work so I stuck with it. **

**I know I didn't really delve into the effects of the lucky potion that much, at least not nearly as much as JK did with Harry, and while it would have been really fun, it just didn't suit the tone this chapter needed.**

**In other news, my exams are all over now! And I've gotten into my top choice University which is great. I'm doing a degree in English Literature with a specific focus on Creative Writing and, judging by the reviews I've recieved from some of you based on writing skill, that should be no problem ;) No clue why I'm telling you this, just thought why not?**

**Expect the next update in two weeks, as usual!**

**Thanks for all the reviews! I've only just realised that I'm over the 400 mark which is unbelievable. I never dreamed this story would get such a response so thankyou to each and everyone of you. Even to those people that complain :P**


	22. Chapter 22

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=VMGh3Ts5-WQ**

**Copy, paste and replace the closed brackets with full stops.**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 22

Cruel Consequences

"_Leave me out with the waste_

_This is not what I do_

_It's the wrong kind of place_

_To be thinking of you_

_It's the wrong time."_

_9 Crimes - Damien Rice  
><em>

It was odd how a symbol could cause such fear within a person. Seeing the snake slither out of the skull's mouth, Hermione could only feel complete terror.

Someone had died at Hogwarts. A place that used to feel like a kind of haven was now tainted for her. Someone had been murdered. An unforgivable act had been performed and as she took her eyes off the Dark Mark she saw how they were getting away. The Death Eaters were dodging spells that were being sent their way and were escaping through the gates. Hermione felt disappointment cloud over her as the last Death Eater managed to get away. From the distance she was watching it at, she couldn't see who it had been, but she didn't care.

It had all been for nothing. Her, Ginny, Ron, Fred, George, Neville and Luna had tried to stop Draco and Snape, but had failed. They'd got away.

What made it worse was how she'd never found out what they had planned. Obviously they had planned to kill someone, that much was clear, but she had no idea who it was or why they had even done it.

Then it hit her. A horrific, torturous thought entered her mind. The thought alone was enough to make her feel as if someone was trying to tear her soul apart. Tears welled in her eyes and without thinking, she dashed out the room. She ignored Neville's shouts after her, saying something that sounded like Harry and Dumbledore were back, but she didn't care.

It couldn't have happened. It just couldn't. Yes, he was missing, but that didn't necessarily mean that it was _him_ who had…No, she wouldn't believe it until she saw him like that.

She leapt down the stairs and crashed the doors open, not caring about the attention she received from Ginny and a wounded Fred, before sprinting outside.

She took little notice of how the sun was rising as she focussed entirely on her destination. Her feet were barely touching the ground since she was running at such a speed and more then once, she nearly fell down because of it. That didn't stop her though. Nothing would.

It was only when she saw Professor McGonagall with a levitated body beside her that Hermione's running slowed. Gravity suddenly pulled her down when she saw whose body it was. She instantly stopped moving and pressed a hand to her mouth as the tears escaped from her eyes.

"Don't…don't tell me it's him, _please_." She begged, as McGonagall made her way closer to her.

The light was now shining on his face, showing how his eyes were closed and that there still seemed to be some colour left in his cheeks.

"No, he's just unconscious." McGonagall said tiredly, oblivious to Hermione's distraught state.

Hermione sucked in a deep breath as tears of relief poured down her cheeks. Her fear dissolved and a wave of comfort spread through her as the sun appeared over the Black Lake, the water sparkling from the sunlight.

"But we have no idea if he's hurt or not, so we still have to take him to the hospital wing." McGonagall explained, bringing Hermione back from her momentary elation.

She nodded, but couldn't prevent a small smile from spreading across her face. It was hard to worry about anything that could have happened to him after discovering he wasn't dead. Everything was right again, as long as he was alive.

McGonagall was now in front of Hermione and she looked at her for the first time. She could hardly hide her surprise from seeing that the young girl had been crying. What was all the more surprising was that Hermione didn't even seem to be noticing that she still was.

"I-if you want, I could take him up to the hospital wing." Hermione said, sniffing. She managed to look away from Ron to McGonagall and thought she saw the faintest sign of a smile on her face.

"Yes, thank you. That would be helpful, I really should be getting back to the castle." McGonagall said, before slowly levitating his body to the ground. She then walked briskly back to the castle, leaving Hermione alone.

She knew it was stupid of her, but she knelt down on the ground by his side before placing her fingers on his neck. Feeling a steady pulse, more relief flowed through her. Knowing there was no time to waste, she stood up and levitated his body next to hers. She took hold of his hand and squeezed it, hoping that would somehow reassure him. She knew it was impossible for him to know, but it made her feel more at ease. Being able to touch him in someway helped reinforce the fact he was there, by her side.

She took him inside and saw nothing in the Entrance Hall except the pool of blood on the ground that used to have a body on top of it. She quickly made her way to the hospital wing and when she opened the doors, she was surprised to see Harry and Dumbledore, both looking as if they were lucky to be alive. Harry was soaking wet and was looking at the headmaster anxiously as he drank the potions Madam Pomfrey handed him. Even with just his back to her, Hermione could tell that there was something gravely wrong with Dumbledore.

The bed next to them was occupied by Fred, who was either fast asleep or unconcious with Ginny sat beside him, looking as if she were holding back her tears. George stood on the otherside, nervously chewing on his thumb, staring at his twin intensely.

Everyone was so preoccupied that it was only Ginny who heard her come in and seeing the sight of what looked like a dead Ron, she let out a loud sob, quickly gaining everyone's attention. George grew even paler seeing his brother lying completely motionless and Harry's face fell.

"He's okay! He's just unconcious." Hermione said, levitating Ron to a spare bed. Ginny raised a hand to her chest as tears poured down her cheeks while George let out a sigh of relief. Madam Pomfrey looked conflictedly between Dumbledore and Ron, unsure on who needed her help more. Dumbledore was still looking incredibly frail and weak since he was having trouble with drinking the potions she'd given him. However, he still managed to give her a look that told her where her loyalty should be for the remainder of that night, so she hurriedly made her way over to Ron.

Hermione stepped back so Madam Pomfrey could perform a quick examination on him. She nervously started biting on her lip and hesitantly glanced over at Harry for reassurance. When she saw nothing but complete fear on his face, she looked over to Ginny, which only made her feel worse. Hermione couldn't remember ever seeing her cry so openly and the sight of it made her feel ill.

Her eyes landed on Fred and he appeared to be looking better, at least some of the colour had returned to his cheeks and he was breathing properly. She swallowed and looked at George before saying,

"H-he's going to be all right, isn't he?"

George blinked a few times, clearly surprised she'd chosen to address him, and nodded.

"He might have some scars but that's it." He informed her.

"We don't know what spell it was, but it was probably one that was trying to get him out of the way, rather than aiming to harm." Madam Pomfrey explained, never taking her gaze off Ron.

Hermione chewed on her lip as she began to wonder how many spells had aimed to harm that night. She remembered seeing that body covered in blood and when she glanced around the room, her eyes landed on the sleeping body of Professor Sprout. It didn't take much for her to work out that it had been her since her body was covered in some herbal salve that was mending her wounds. Her face was covered in bandages so Hermione guessed the reason she hadn't recognised her before was because of how badly the wounds had effected her skin.

Hermione looked back at Ron to see him in the same state as before with Madam Pomfrey still murmuring incantations as she held her wand over his chest. She only said a few more until she let out a sigh, rubbing her eyes exhaustedly.

"There seems to be nothing wrong with him." She said, making Ginny and George beam, but the news only heightened Hermione's worry and it seemed to be the same for Madam Pomfrey.

There were many curses that harmed internally and there weren't many spells that could identify the effects of them quickly. Most ways of being able to identify them needed a potion and for the patient to be concious. Of course, there were other ways, but only healers at St Mungo's knew how to perform them as they were so intricate and complex. And given the fact they had no proof that anything could actually be wrong with Ron, it would be pointless to try and admit him.

"But, he was by the forbidden forest. That can only mean the Death Eaters," Hermione paused, sucking in a breath, unaware of the tear trailing down her cheek, "- the Death Eaters did something and left him there."

"Yeah, Bellatrix would hardly miss an opportunity like that." Harry said, sounding as if he resented himself for saying the truth. His eyes met Ginny's and he saw how her momentary happiness had now been diminished.

"He'll have to stay for observation." Madam Pomfrey announced, knowing that was all she could do. No-one argued with her because they were letting the information sink in. It was horrible, knowing there was a possibility of something being gravely wrong with someone you cared about and not being able to do a single thing about it.

"Right, now, anyone who has not been injured must leave now." Madam Pomfrey said, immediately throwing Hermione, Harry, Ginny and George into protest.

"No objections!" She insisted, standing up and the four students turned silent. "Miss Granger may stay, as I need to speak with her about the state she discovered Mr Weasley in, but the rest of you must go back to the common room. I expect Professor McGonagall will need to make sure no-one is missing and she can't do that if you're here."

The three students had to admit Madam Pomfrey made a good point so it was with reluctancy that Harry, Ginny and George exitted the hospital wing.

It didn't take long for Hermione to explain how she had found Ron, since she truthfully hadn't been the one to find him which wasn't very helpful.

"Okay then, I'd best write a letter to his parents anyway as well as the other students'." She said irritably, after Hermione informed her of everything she knew. Madam Pomfrey clearly wanted more information about Ron so she could run more specific tests on him, but it seemed as if she was left with no option but to test him for everything.

"They have the same parents." Hermione informed, as the medi-witch headed towards her office. She turned around frowning, so Hermione said, "Ron, Fred and Bill all have the same parents."

"Oh yes, that's right." She answered remembering, showing just how exhausted she was. "Well, I'll just explain later when they arrive then. I should start making some more potions then – you're free to leave now, Miss Granger."

She walked inside her office, closing the door behind her and Hermione turned towards Ron, having no intention on leaving yet. She walked towards him and sat down on the edge of his bed as she looked over him.

She couldn't deny how happy she was that he was alive and at least seemed to be in an okay state. He didn't look like he was in much pain. She gazed at his face and hesitantly reached out towards him, moving his fringe out of the way of his eyes. She noticed the slight creases in his forehead and how his jaw was tensed, as if he was trying his hardest to wake up but couldn't.

She didn't know why she did it. She wouldn't have been able to explain it to anyone. Maybe it was because she had no idea if she'd ever get another chance to do it. Maybe it was because she was relieved that he was actually alive. Or maybe, it was simply because this was Ron, and she wanted to do it.

She ran her fingers down to his cheek before cupping his face in her hand. She then leant down and pressed her lips against his forehead, in a short, sweet kiss. It only lasted a second but it was enough for her. Sparks of happiness spread through her faster then she thought was possible.

She pulled away and removed her hand, only noticing then how she had still been crying since her tears were on his face. She hastily wiped away at her cheeks and sniffed before using her sleeve to delicately wipe them off of him.

She looked at his face once more and, it might have just been wishful thinking, but she could have sworn his features had softened. She smiled at the sight until she saw how he was furrowing his brows and he shifted slightly in his bed. Before she could move somewhere more appropriate, he opened his eyes.

She immediately felt a rush of blood shoot through her at the sight of him awake and she beamed. He smiled back dazedly, looking as if he was still waking up and adjusted himself into a more comfortable position. He blinked a few more times and the smile left his face as he remembered what had happened.

"What's going on? Why am I here?" He asked scared, and Hermione had to hold herself back from taking his hand in hers to comfort him. She instead tucked her hair behind her ears.

"They've all left; the Death Eaters. Harry and Dumbledore are back but Dumbledore's been badly injured. Fred was hit by a curse but he's going to be fine and Bill... well, I don't know exactly what happened to Bill, but I think he's okay.

"You're here because," She took a deep breath, trying not to show her emotions but failed as more tears cascaded down her cheeks. "Because we found you by the Forbidden Forest unconcious and have no idea if anything's wrong with you."

She let out a small sob and covered her eyes with her hands, making his eyebrows shoot up. He sat up, slightly perplexed and she wiped away her tears, ignoring how more were still pouring down her cheeks. She glanced at him and he awkwardly looked back at her.

He was having trouble taking in all the information she had given him since it had been in such a short space of time. He didn't really know what to say about it all. Apparently his brothers had been hurt, most likely under the hands of Death Eaters, and Dumbledore could have died or something and then there was a chance that he could have been hurt without knowing it and the only basis of it was off the fact he had been found near the Forbidden Forest, which was important for some reason he didn't know. Thousands of questions were running through his mind but the one that stood out was; just how long had he been out for?

He noticed how she was staring at him with those huge, tearfull eyes of hers and all he wanted to do was make that terrified expression on her face disappear.

"I feel fine though." He admitted, hoping the smile on his face was a little comforting. She sniffed and looked at him a little apprehensively.

"Really?" She questioned.

"Yeah, my back hurts a bit, but that's probably from when Snape cursed me and I hit the wall." He explained.

"Yes, Ginny told me about that. We think he left with the other Death Eaters and Malfoy."

"Oh."

The pair of them sat in a tense silence for a few minutes while Ron looked around the Hospital Wing.

"What was Bill doing here in the first place?" He asked, having no clue about why Bill was in Hogwarts, let alone on how he had been injured.

"George told McGonagall that the Death Eaters had somehow gotten into the castle and she alerted the Order about it so they sent Lupin, Tonks and Bill. I think your parents have been told about what happened to him and are coming in soon." She said briefly.

Not entirely sure on how to respond, Ron simply nodded. Hermione looked him up and down and bit her lip before asking,

"Are you sure you're okay? I mean, you were found underneath the Dark Mark." She said, and his eyes widened.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Doesn't the Dark Mark mean they've killed though?" He asked bewildered. Hermione nodded, trying not to think about how the Death Eaters might have intended on killing Ron.

Seeing she wasn't keen on discussing the subject, he leant back against his pillow while she sat stiffly next to him. He looked over her and noticed how a large chunk of her hair was missing.

"What happened?" He asked immediately, concern written all over his features.

"What?" She said, returning her gaze to him.

"To you. Why's your hair like that?" He said, pointing at it and her eyes widened, having completely forgotten about what had happened to her. Knowing the next conversation was going to be an awkward one, she thought she may as well get it over and done with.

"Oh, well...it turns out Greyback was one of the Death Eaters that had managed to come in the castle -"

"What?" He snapped, not believing she hadn't told him.

"It's okay, I'm fine, really." She said, giving him a fake smile. She was starting to remember how utterly terrified she had been and it was beginning to show on her face as she was growing paler.

"Then why do you look like that?" He retorted with a mixture of anger, fear and concern.

She tried to ignore how the room felt suddenly colder. She wrapped her arms around her middle as she remembered exactly what had happened and what could have happened to her. She involuntarily shivered, something he noticed, and his concern washed out his anger.

He moved so he was closer to her and placed his hand on her arm, doing his best to remain calm. Now was not the time to be getting furious about it. What he needed to do was be there for her.

"It's okay you know, you can tell me." He said in a level tone. She looked straight into his eyes and when she saw nothing except for how worried he was about her, the tears leaked out and she took in a shuddering breath.

"I was so scared. I couldn't fight him, he was too strong for any of my curses so I had to run. But then he caught up with me and grabbed a hold of me by my hair and dragged me across the floor and..." She trailed off, unable to continue because of how heavy her sobbing was. He didn't hesitate in wrapping his arms around her fiercely and she immediately turned so her body was facing his. She rested her face on his chest, clutching onto his shirt as if her life depended on it.

Waves of comfort washed over her as she felt him rub his hand up and down her back and it didn't take long for her tears to subside. It was difficult for her to even remember why she had been so upset in the first place, while she was in the safe confines of his arms. She edged a little closer too him and closed her eyes, breathing in deeply, wondering if she had ever felt so relaxed as she currently was. His arms tightened around her and he rested his head on top of hers, unintentionally increasing her heart rate. Warmth spread through her like wildfire and she unclenched his shirt so she could wrap her arms back around him, letting out a content sigh.

They were both holding onto eachother so tightly it was as if they were clinging onto their own lives. In a way, they were though. They were holding onto their new lives. They were holding onto the way they now lived their lives and it was all because of that other person. They had both changed eachother in this beautiful way and it had only ever been for the better. Neither one of them were willing to let that go and never would.

Hermione had no idea how much time had passed before they started to pull away from eachother. It could have been several hours for all she knew but she didn't care, since all she felt was complete happiness.

They still had their arms loosely wrapped around eachother when she noticed how close their faces were. She could feel his hot breath on her skin. She could make out every last freckle on his nose. She could see how his eyes seemed to be darkening in colour as his pupils dilated.

She knew what she should do. She should move out of his arms, leave the hospital wing and head up to the common room. But that wasn't what she wanted to do, she wanted to stay as she was, and for once, she did what she wanted.

She swallowed and opened her mouth so she could take in deeper breaths. Her heart was practically bursting with how intensely it was beating. She eventually looked up into his eyes to see how he was staring straight at her with such a fervid gaze that it sent sparks of electricity straight down her stomach. His eyes flickered to her lips and he licked his own, tightening the hold he had on her waist. She nearly flinched from it but she was in such a daze that the effect seemed to flow through her.

She was expecting him to pull away from her. After all, he only thought about her as a friend and friends should never be as close as they were at that moment in time. Their noses were touching now and she dug her fingers into his back, becoming aware of the strong pulsating that was taking place between her legs. She was beginning to sweat from how rapidly her heart was beating and from their close proximity. Her vision was blurred because of how close they were but she thought she could see him opening his mouth so he could breathe easier.

She didn't know what was happening or what was going to happen but she hoped he was at least thinking something along the same lines as she was. She apparently was never going to find out though, since at that moment, Madam Pomfrey came out of her office with handfuls of potions and snapped,

"Miss Granger, why exactly are you still here?"

Hermione immediately jumped out of whatever trance she was in and leapt off the bed. Unfortunately, this also meant Ron had done a similar thing but had accidentally banged his head on the wall behind him. He winced and lifted his hand to rub at the spot while Hermione's cheeks turned bright red and she refused to look at him, thinking over what had very nearly happened.

Madam Pomfrey's eyes widened, seeing Ron awake, and she bustled over to Dumbledore to give him some more healing potions. Much to Hermione's horror, he had been lying in his bed the whole time wide awake and had obviously witnessed everything that had happened between her and Ron. She immediately looked down at the ground in embarassment.

Meanwhile, Madam Pomfrey had hurried over to Ron's side and pulled his hand off his head to check if there was a wound. Seeing there wasn't she hastily pulled out her wand.

"Do you feel any pain what-so-ever?" She asked strictly, and he grimaced.

"Well, my ruddy head hurts obviously." He grumbled, making a small smile appear on Hermione's face. She hesitantly turned around to look at him and saw how his ears had turned a bright red and that he was looking incredibly flushed. He caught her gaze and his expression softened.

"Did it hurt before you hit it on the wall?" Madam Pomfrey snapped, forcing his gaze off Hermione.

"No." He answered, making her let out a noise of frustration.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"No, I'm fine."

Madam Pomfrey scrutinised him for a moment before deciding he was clearly telling the truth.

"Well, given the circumstances, I'm still going to keep you in for observation." She said, ignoring the annoyed look Ron threw at her because she quickly turned her attention back towards Hermione.

"Now, again, why exactly are you still here Miss Granger?" She asked, and Hermione blinked a few times. She'd never had to come up with an excuse for disregarding the rules and it didn't take long for her to realise that she disliked being put on the spot.

"I – I wanted to make sure I mended a bone I'd broken earlier." She said, saying the first thing that came into her head. Madam Pomfrey looked pleasantly surprised with the response whereas Ron furrowed his eyebrows at her.

"I see, what bone was it?" She asked, walking closer to her.

"One of my ribs, I think. I was being chased by Greyback and he kicked me." Hermione explained, deliberately ignoring Ron, knowing how he was probably seething with the anger from the fact she didn't tell him.

"Oh my, well, are you in pain?" Madam Pomfrey asked a lot more sympathetically, and gently touched Hermione's ribs. She instinctively let out a small noise of protest before biting her lip. "Hmm, you've probably just got a bruise from the attack rather than having the bone still broken. Do you mind?"

Without waiting for a response, the healer abruptly pulled a divider across, blocking Ron's view, and lifted Hermione's top by a small amount to immediately see a sickening purple tinge to her skin.

"You'll need some herbal salve on that. I'll be right back." She said, and went to her office. Hermione sat down on the bed behind her, wondering how she hadn't noticed the pain the bruise would have caused. Then again, she hadn't really stopped or been given time to think over the past few hours.

She lifted her top to inspect the bruise herself when the divider was flung open and she was met with a furious Ron Weasley. She abruptly pulled her top down to cover it up and his fury dissipated slightly as his embarassment took over. He still seemed intent on giving her a piece of his mind though.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He said heatedly, and she awkwardly tucked her hair behind her ears. She had been trying to tell him before he had hugged her, and that had naturally drained every thought out of her. Knowing she couldn't say that, she defended herself in the only way she knew how.

"Well, _you _might not have noticed, Ron, but I was in too much of a state to get it out before." She retorted angrily, and he instantly calmed down. He looked guiltily at the ground and scratched the back of his head, taking a few cautious steps towards her.

"I know, I'm sorry. I was just worried, that's all." He said quietly, refusing to meet her gaze. She relaxed and looked towards Madam Pomfrey's office to see that she was mixing some ingredients together. "Can I see it?"

She glanced back at Ron to see him shifting from foot to foot with his hands shoved in his pockets.

"Okay." She said shyly, and pulled up her top a little, just so he could see the bruise. He walked even closer to her and leant down so he could see it better. He hesitantly reached out towards her and lightly grazed his fingers over it. She bit her lip, shivering from his touch, and hoped that he couldn't feel how quickly her heart was beating.

It was hard to believe how strongly she was responding to him. He was barely touching her and it exhililarated her. A flood of warmth spread through her stomach and her centre started pulsating again as he ran the tips of his fingers across her stomach, covering the width of the bruise. She was getting goosebumps from the action and it was getting more and more difficult for her to suppress her moaning. She was biting her lip so hard that it would undoubtedly swell the moment she loosened her grip on it.

He put a little more pressure on it and instead of feeling pain, the pulsating increased below her stomach and heat spread though her straight down to her toes. She was thankful that she was sat down because she was sure her feet would have given out on her by now.

She noticed how he was staring at the spot he was touching intensely, in a similar way to how he was looking at her before, and he licked his lips again.

"Mr Weasley, what are you doing out of your bed?" Madam Pomfrey snapped, jolting Ron's hand away from Hermione to snap at his side. Hermione immediately pulled her top back down, her cheeks flushing brilliantly.

"I urr, why's it matter if I'm out of bed? There's nothing wrong with me." He said, a blush working up his neck. Seeing Madam Pomfrey's harsh gaze, he didn't argue any more and went back to his bed.

Hermione turned around to see the medi-witch holding a green herbal salve as she made her way towards her. She wasted no time in pulling up Hermione's top before applying the salve onto her skin messily. She then pulled Hermione's top back down and instructed her to wait an hour before showering so it could sink in and make the bruise vanish.

"Right, you're free to leave, Miss Granger." Madam Pomfrey said, as she pulled the divider back. "And when I say leave, I mean you're to go now."

"Of course." Hermione answered, standing up. She looked over at Ron and smiled at him awkwardly. "I'll see you tomorrow."

He smiled lopsidedly and was about to reply when the doors to the hospital wing came crashing open. Hermione whipped around to see Fleur Delacour was breathing heavily, looking as perfect as always, but had obviously been crying. She looked around wide eyed until she caught sight of Bill lying in a bed. She let out a loud sob before rushing over to him and practically threw herself over his body, weeping on his chest.

"And just exactly who are-" Madam Pomfrey started, bustling over to her only to have Fleur shoot the woman an acidic glare.

"I am 'is fiance! And you're lucky I don't curse you for not zinking to tell me about 'im!" She spat, and the older woman huffed angrily.

"I apologise for that, but I didn't know." She retorted, and Fleur looked back at Bill. She ran her hands over his face and delicately traced the new scars on his face.

"What's going to 'appen to 'im?" She asked in a calmer tone.

"I can't know for sure, but he should be all right. He wasn't bitten so the effects of becoming a werewolf shouldn't apply to him."

It was at that moment the doors were flung open again, except this time it was Molly and Arthur that came rushing through. Molly first saw Fred lying unconcious and before the tears could come pouring out of her eyes, Madam Pomfrey said,

"He's fine. He'll just have some slight scarring and that's all."

Meanwhile, Arthur had seen his only other son that was in the hospital wing.

"Ron, what are you doing here?" He asked, looking both scared and confused.

"I'm fine, dad." He answered, just as Molly caught sight of him too. She hurried over to him and wrapped her arms around his head, smothering him with kisses.

"Ugh mum, stop it." He said, feebly trying to fight her off, but even Hermione could see how he was actually enjoying the amount of concern she was showering over him.

"My poor boy, are you okay?" She asked him, inbetween kisses.

"I'm fine, honestly. Nothing's wrong." He insisted, as Arthur suppressed a smile at the scene before him.

"There actually might be a very small chance that there's something wrong with him." Madam Pomfrey said reluctantly. Molly instantly stopped what she was doing but tightened her grip on her son.

"Why?" Arthur said stiffly.

"While everything I've tested for has come back negatively, he was found unconcious underneath the Dark Mark and with no dead body found, there could be anything wrong with him. I'd like to keep him in for observation to make sure there isn't anything wrong with him." She explained.

Molly covered her mouth with her hand as a way of suppressing another sob while Arthur tried not to show how the news was terrifying him.

The doors opened for the third time, and it was Remus and Tonks who walked through. They looked around and Tonks let out a relieved a sigh at how there weren't that many injured. Although, both of them looked shocked to see a frail Dumbledore lying in a bed. They chose not to ask questions yet as they hurried to his side.

"We searched the grounds, and there's no sign of any Death Eaters, or a body of any kind." Lupin said, putting a smile on Dumbledore's face. He was clearly too weak to give a verbal answer but Remus accepted it as a response before the older man closed his eyes, finally letting himself give into the sleep he desperately needed.

"What were they doing here anyway?" Tonks asked, mainly out of irritation rather than actual curiosity about gaining an answer. No-one replied and all that could be heard were the soft sounds of Molly and Fleur's crying.

Arthur walked over to Bill and placed a reassuring hand on Fleur's shoulder, as she continued crying on his chest. She now seemed to be crying out of relief rather than fear and she softly kissed her fiance's cheek.

Molly did the same to Ron before eventually letting go of him to have a look at Fred. She ran the back of her fingers against his face, rubbing the skin softly as she smiled down at him, glad that he was relatively unharmed.

Hermione fidgeted as she contemplated on leaving. She should have left a long time ago but she hadn't because it would have made her presence known. Everyone was so caught up in what was happening that they hadn't noticed her. The one person who seemed to know she was there was Ron, and it was he who caught her gaze and smiled at her lopsidedly. She returned it, surprised at how relieved she felt from seeing it. It was as if he was saying to her silently that even though everything was chaos at the moment, it would get better. And despite the likelihood of that being true was very small, it did give her that bit of hope she needed.

There was a crash as the doors were flung open for the final time that night, to reveal a frantic looking Professor McGonagall. Complete fear was written on her features as she didn't even bother taking a few steps inside before she exclaimed,

"Lavender Brown is missing."

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><p><strong>A:N Apologies for this being out a few hours later than usual, hope none of you mind too much. Although with the time difference it might not have effected you at all :P**

**This is probably one of those chapters where it's actually raised more questions than answers, which is exactly what I wanted so don't worry, all of them will be answered eventually.**

**As always, the next chapter will be in 2 weeks.**

**Thanks for all your reviews!**


	23. Chapter 23

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=HORpOWzmFWc**

**Copy, paste and replace the closed brackets with full stops.**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 23

Finally

"_Days of roses and wine_

_Drifting astray_

_With your hand in mine_

_You stroke my fears away_

_And make me want to stay."_

_Bonfires – Blue Foundation  
><em>

News of Lavender Brown's disappearance spread quickly which, for once, was actually for the best. The more people that were out looking for her, the better. Every inch of the grounds and castle had been searched, even the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid had asked Firenze to look around for the girl and after a few days of searching, he had come back with nothing. This was good news in a sense, since she would have inevitably been dead if she had been discovered there, but that could only mean that the Death Eaters had taken her with them wherever they went. The question was; where had they taken her and was she still alive?

While there was virtually no information on Lavender's state, there was plenty on Dumbledore's. Madam Pomfrey had done all she could for him but he had still remained very weak so he had been transferred to St Mungo's. With their superior healing potions, he was making a slow but steady recovery.

Hermione was currently sat in the Gryffindor common room, trying to read a book on the implications of non-verbal curses, when Harry walked in. She glanced at him and was surprised to see he had the exact same expession on his face as when Sirius died. She instantly closed her book and sat on the edge of her seat as he collapsed onto the sofa next to her. He rested his head against the back of it and closed his eyes, letting out a sigh. She gazed at him sympathetically and held back on reaching out to him.

"Harry, what's wrong?" She asked fearfully, a nervous coil started forming in her stomach when he took a few deep breaths before answering,

"I ended it with Ginny." He stated in a low tone.

"What?" Hermione said instinctively, wide-eyed. He didn't respond, knowing she was saying it out of shock rather than wanting to hear him repeat himself, and rubbed his eyes beneath his glasses. She blinked a few times, her mouth agape as she tried to think of a reason why he would do such a thing. "But...why?"

He didn't answer her. He stopped rubbing his eyes and instead made a fist. He still had his eyes closed so she couldn't be sure, but it seemed as if he was doing his best to hold his tears back.

"Please, Harry. Just tell me why and don't say it's because you don't love her-" She started, only to have Harry lift his head up and abruptly open his eyes.

"Of course I do! It's because of that which is why I finished it!" He said heatedly, glaring at Hermione for even thinking that.

"What do you mean?" She asked perplexed. He relaxed and the same miserable expression he had before returned. He looked conflicted for a few moments until he remembered just how stubborn his best friend was.

"I'm not coming back to Hogwarts next year." He said strongly, showing there was no way she was going to talk him out of it. Before she could reply, he continued saying, "I'm going to find these Horcruxes with Dumbledore and destroy them."

Hermione was rendered speechless. She did have some suspicions that Harry would have to go out and find the Horcruxes but she'd naively thought they'd do it together, after Hogwarts. He had virtually no plan on how to find them, at least if he did he hadn't told her about it, and judging by the look on his face it seemed as if he was preparing to die.

He wasn't ready though and he needed a plan. She needed to help him. She couldn't let him do this. She refused to let him walk to his death.

"But, Dumbledore's too ill-" She started, that being the first problem she could find with this ridiculous decision he made.

"He'll be out in a few days." Harry interrupted. Her heart raced in fear as she recognised the look in his eyes. It was a look of complete determination.

"But he's well, Harry, he's getting a bit old. We don't know how much longer he'll-"

"Don't say that!" He snapped, and she immediately clamped her mouth shut, not believing how inconsiderate she had been. He tried to calm himself down and said, "I know there's a possibility he might and if that happens then so be it."

"I'll come with you too. I don't care how slim the possibility it is but I won't let you do this alone." She said fiercely, and Harry sighed angrily, standing up.

"You can't, Hermione." He said, starting to walk away but she wasn't having that. She shot up and grabbed hold of his arm, forcing him to turn back around.

"Why not? Harry, I want to help you in any way I can." She stated, looking firmly into his eyes.

"And you'll do a much better job of that if you're away from me, at least you'll be safe then." He said angily, avoiding her gaze.

"No, don't do this! I'm coming with you, you're my best friend and I'm going to be there for you!" She retorted fiercely, with her gaze unwavering and he finally looked back at her.

"You can't talk me out of this, Hermione. You're going to stay here. I'll be fine with Dumbledore and if he does...then I'll figure something out. You can't come with me. You'll die if you do." He said, no longer sounding angry.

"You don't know that! Please Harry, you don't have to do this on your own." She pleaded, and it looked as if he was going to consider her proposition but quickly thought better of it.

"Hermione, you have to stay here. I don't even know where I'm going to be next year. It's better if you stay."

She could feel a lump was rising in her throat at how he wasn't giving up. Harry was very rarely this committed to an idea she had an issue with since he knew, better than anyone, just how stubborn she could be. He was clearly going to do this whether she liked it or not and as she looked over his composure, she saw how he was wracked with guilt and how difficult this was for him. He was looking so awful about it though, it just couldn't have all been from this one conversation. He must have already had a conversation very similar to this one.

"This is why you ended it with Ginny, isn't it? She wanted to be there for you and you wouldn't let her." Hermione said, and her suspicions were confirmed when she saw him close his eyes regretfully for a second. He quickly opened them again but he didn't even attempt to hide his sadness.

"I did what I had to do so she would stay safe." He said, giving Hermione a look that she should drop the subject.

Knowing the truth behind his words, she didn't retort, but she was running out of ideas on how to convince him to let her go with him.

"Harry..." She said weakly, her eyes filling with tears. She didn't know what else she could say. He was going to go on a mission of life or death and she couldn't do a single thing about it.

"I have to do this." He said, seeing her reaction. "We both know what the prophecy said. I'm the only one who can kill him and these Horcruxes have to be destroyed so I can do that. You know I have to do this."

"When? When are you going?" She asked tearfully, causing his eyebrows to rise.

"We can't leave until I'm seventeen, because of the trace." He said cautiously, trying to figure out why she suddenly had a change of heart. She wiped away the tears on her face and sniffed, managing to stop her crying.

That still meant she had some time to convince him to let her go with him.

"I'm going to call it a night. I'll see you tomorrow." She said, and before he had a chance to respond, she briskly turned around and headed upstairs.

She closed the dormitory door behind her and ran a hand through her hair, forcing herself to not cry anymore. Crying wasn't going to help with anything.

She sat down on her bed as she tried to calm herself down, which was easier said then done. She couldn't think clearly because all her thoughts were plagued with what could happen to Harry.

What would happen if he didn't find one of the horcruxes? He wouldn't be able to kill Voldemort if there was still a horcrux out there. He could spend years trying to find it. What if Dumbledore did die while with Harry? He might have some sort of break-down and would end up giving himself up to Voldemort. And worst of all, what if Harry wasn't careful enough? What if Voldemort captured him? Hermione could hardly bare to think of the unimaginable ways Voldemort would want to kill Harry. She doubted he would simply just kill Harry if he got the chance to torture him as well.

She grimaced as she imagined Harry being 'crucio-ed' and wrapped her arms around her stomach. She realised she'd probably made the worst decision in coming up to the dormitory by herself. Now she was completely alone with her thoughts, and that terrified her. She could imagine all the horrific things that could happen to Harry and no-one was there to help put her mind at ease or at least be there to talk to about had to talk to someone abou t it and she knew exactly who she wanted to be with.

She stood up, hoping Harry wouldn't still be down in the common room, and was about to make her way to the hospital wing, when the door opened. Ginny slowly came inside and all thoughts of visiting Ron escaped Hermione's mind.

Hermione couldn't remember ever seeing Ginny look so fragile before. Her head was hung low and her arms were wrapped around her middle, as if she was holding herself together. She pressed her lips together and took a deep breath before she straightened up, letting her arms hang by her sides, appearing much more like her usual self.

"Did he tell you?" Ginny asked stiffly, intent on avoiding Hermione's gaze as she walked into the room more.

"Yes." Hermione answered awkwardly, and sat herself back down on the bed, not entirely sure about how she should act. It was obvious that Ginny was upset but didn't want to show it so Hermione tried to seem oblivious to it.

"Did he also tell you about this – this mission or whatever it is he's going on?" Ginny said bitterly, her back now to Hermione as she looked out the window. Hermione let out an angry sigh and straightened out her skirt.

"Yes, I've tried convincing him on letting somebody else go with him but he's not having any of it. I was going to try some more but I'll have to think of some better arguments." Hermione explained.

"Why does he have to be so noble all the fucking time?" Ginny snapped, sounding as if she hadn't paid attention to a word Hermione said. Hermione frowned a little at her language but didn't say anything.

"He just doesn't want to get you hurt." Hermione said hesitantly, turning her head around to see Ginny was still looking out the window.

"I know that! He only told me about twenty thousand times while he was..." Ginny trailed off, unable to say it out loud yet, but Hermione understood.

They were in silence for a minute or two before Ginny said, "I knew he would do this. I've known it for months, but it still feels like a shock."

"Of course it does." Hermione replied sympathetically.

"Maybe it would have been better if we never became a couple." She said quietly.

"No. He's been a lot happier, Ginny, because he was with you, and I know you've felt the same way." Hermione insisted, shifting on the bed so she wasn't in such an awkward position. Ginny crossed her arms beneath her chest with tense shoulders.

"That's the problem though, isn't it? All the happiness is in the past. Now all I've got are memories that don't stop me from feeling like complete shit. I don't want to be thankful for what I've had with him because we could still have that, but he's made it clear that's not what he wants." Ginny said, with her sadness starting to overcome her resentment.

"He loves you, Ginny. I'm pretty sure he's in love with you actually." Hermione answered truthfully, causing Ginny to tense even more.

"Don't say that." She said quietly.

"Why not?" Hermione questioned with furrowed eyebrows, and Ginny took a deep breath.

"Because it makes it worse. I have to wait for him now, and I'm so tired of waiting for him. I've been doing it since my first year here and I'm sick of it. All I've done is wait and wait for him to be ready, and then when he finally was, we had a few months together but that was all. Now fate has decided I have to wait some more and who knows what will happen? Something could happen to either one of us and then what? I would have spent the majority of my life waiting for something that was never meant to be." Ginny said, sounding like this wasn't the first time she was having these kinds of thoughts.

Hermione chewed on her lip as she thought of what to say. She glanced down at her hands in her lap and was reminded of a previous conversation she had with Ginny in her fourth year before the Yule Ball. Ginny had been waiting for Harry to ask her, desperately hoping he would but at the same time doubting it a little. She'd gone to Hermione to see if she thought it would be worth waiting for Harry to ask her, and Hermione was going to give the same advice she had given then,

"You don't have to wait for him though."

Ginny sighed in defeat and her arms fell to her sides.  
>"I don't have any other choice. I've tried being with other people, you know I have, and it never worked out, because he was always there. He's always here, Hermione. There is no-one else for me. He's it, so I'm stuck waiting for him." Ginny admitted unashamed.<p>

Hermione didn't know how to answer so she remained silent. She wanted to tell Ginny how she shouldn't put all her hopes on one person, but she spoke with such conviction and belief that it was impossible to deny how she'd only spoken the truth.

Ginny let out a noise of frustration, breaking Hermione out of her thoughts.

"Ugh, would you listen to me? He's about to go on a life or death mission and I'm here whining about how he's broken up with me. Could I be anymore selfish?" Ginny said resentfully.

"Ginny, it's natural for you to feel this way."

Hermione then heard a choking sound that made her head flash towards Ginny's direction. She saw Ginny had a hand pressed over her mouth and for the first time since she walked in, she turned around so Hermione could see her face. Her eyes were full of tears as it looked as if something had dawned on her.

"H-he could die, Hermione. And I won't be able to do a thing about it."

The tears finally pooled over and Hermione hurried over to Ginny, wrapping her arms around her tightly. It only took a few seconds before Ginny willingly let out all the emotion she had been holding in. At first, she was crying silently but it didn't take long until she was sobbing uncontrollably. She was shaking in Hermione's arms so much that if she hadn't been clinging onto her shoulders, her legs probably would have given out on her.

Hermione had to bite her lip to stop herself from crying too, but she refused to give in. She had to be strong for her. Ginny had been there for her when she needed her and she was going to do the exact same for her.

She knew that it took a lot for Ginny to cry and that she found it humiliating, so she didn't say anything. All Hermione did was hold her and wait until she stopped crying.

She wasn't sure how long she comforted Ginny for. It must have been a long time since her legs grew tired from standing up so they wound up sitting on her bed. She had her arm around Ginny as she rested her head on Hermione's shoulder. Ginny eventually stopped snivelling while wiping away her tears, but kept her head where it was for a few moments. She suddenly seemed to realise what she had been doing and instantly moved away from Hermione, rubbing at her cheeks embarassedly.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to do this to you." Ginny apologised, turning away from Hermione slightly.

"You don't have to apologise or be embarassed by anything." Hermione answered, which only made Ginny do the exact opposite of what Hermione hoped as her cheeks flamed red.

"Yeah well..." Ginny trailed off. She stopped rubbing at her cheeks and placed her hands awkwardly in her lap. She stared at her twiddling thumbs in thought and relaxed before glancing at Hermione. Seeing the reassuring smile on her friend's face, she couldn't believe she had been embarassed about her outburst. "Hermione, could you stay at mine over the summer?"

Hermione's eyebrows instantly shot up, never expecting her to say that. Seeing the expression on her face, Ginny hastily explained,

"Just for a few weeks. I know I'm asking for a lot and I know it might be awkward, and I'll obviously check with everyone later to make sure it's fine but, I really can't see how I'm going to cope for two months with just my family. I love them too bits, but I can already tell my brothers are going to blame Harry the whole time, while mum and dad are going to try and tell me that I shouldn't blame him at all, and I know it'll drive me mad.

"I need you there. You're the only person I know who won't take anyone's side if I talk to you."  
>Ginny was looking at Hermione so desperately that it was impossible for her not to consider it.<p>

Despite this, as sympathetic to her situation as she was, Hermione couldn't stop from being skeptical over the idea. While the thought of spending a couple of weeks with Ginny was a happy one, the thought of spending a couple of weeks with George certainly wasn't. She had no idea how they'd be around eachother. All their encounters so far had been awkward to say the least, and that would only increase with being around his family constantly and living with him.

She also had no idea if she'd be able to part with her parents for a few weeks. She didn't know what was going to happen with the Wizarding World over the coming months, but she knew if there was a war, she would fight. She wouldn't run away. She would stay even if it killed her. It was for that reason she was reluctant to leave her parents. What if she did die? What if she only saw her parents for a dozen days before she died? She knew she'd regret leaving them. And even worse, what if they died? It was no secret that the Death Eaters were making their way into the muggle world and had started killing muggles for enjoyment. Her parents would be a prime target, given who she was, so it'd be no surprise if they did die.

No, she couldn't think like that. At least not with Ginny sat beside her awaiting her answer. She looked at her and said exactly what she was thinking,

"I don't know, Ginny."

This didn't seem to dampen Ginny's spirits though. She edged a little closer to Hermione and turned towards her properly, her eyes lit up in determination.

"Please Hermione, it'd mean so much to me and I'd really owe you one. I know I'm going to break down again at some point and I don't know what I'd do without you there. It'd only be for two weeks before we come back here, just like what we did last summer." Ginny all but begged.

It wouldn't be just like last summer though. It would be far more complicated. Last summer she had only just met Ron and she wasn't in the mess she was currently in.

Then another thought occurred to her, she'd get to spend more time with Ron. She couldn't deny how elated she became over simply thinking about it. She remembered their day out in the muggle world in the Christmas holidays and how brilliant it had been. They could have more days like that, where she could forget about all the chaos going on and be happy for once. She could be with him and not have a care in the world.

"Okay." Hermione found herself saying, without even thinking about it. Ginny blinked a few times in surprise, clearly expecting to convince her some more, but she wasn't going to question it.

"Thank you so much, Hermione! I'll write to my parents and ask right now." Ginny said eagerly, giving Hermione a hug before abruptly standing up. She quickly walked out the dormitory, shouting another word of thanks over her shoulder and left Hermione alone.

It didn't take Hermione long to remember what she had wanted to do before Ginny came in, and she saw no point in stopping herself from doing it now she was gone. She got up and went down to the common room to see it in a far busier state then when she had left it. She glanced at a clock and was surprised to see it was fairly late in the evening, considering it had only been the late afternoon when she had left. She chose not to focus on it and continued making her way towards the portrait hole.

Once she stepped outside, she was surprised to see the very person she had been seeking out was stood in front of her. He was leaning against the wall with his hands deep in his pockets, looking down at the ground bored. She blinked a few times, ignoring how rapid her heart was beating, and took a few more steps forward.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, bringing him out of his thoughts. He looked up so quickly that his head nearly smacked against the wall behind him but when he saw her, standing in front of him, a grin spread across his face.

She couldn't bring herself to smile back just yet. He was meant to be in the hospital wing. What was he doing out of it?

"Pomfrey said I could leave since there's nothing wrong with me." He stated, trying not to smile at how worried she looked for him. She cautiously walked closer to him until they were a short distance away from eachother. He stood up properly as she gazed at him with huge eyes.

"Really?" She said in slight disbelief. She couldn't believe it. It looked as if he had been left for dead when she saw him with McGonagall by the Forbidden Forest.

"You worry too much. I'm fine." He said lightly. Seeing the look of complete honesty in his eyes, she practically beamed before throwing her arms around him. He seemed to have been expecting it as he managed to retain his balance and his arms instantly wrapped back around her.

They both closed their eyes simultaneously without knowing it and tightened their hold around the other. Hermione's head was resting against his chest and she could both feel and hear his heartbeat. She couldn't prevent a blush from working its way up her neck when she realised it was beating in time with hers. She shivered as one of his hands went to her lower back and a wave of comfort washed over her as she felt him rest his head on top of hers.

"I missed you." She said honestly. She didn't understand why she had missed him. She'd visited him everyday, on some occasions twice a day, but she'd gotten so used to being with him constantly over the past few months. They'd walk eachother to their classes, they'd do their patrols together, they'd study (well, she would study while he tried convincing her to do someting else before eventually doing some work), they'd spend their free periods together, they'd go out to the lake, they'd do all sorts of things. It just hadn't been the same with him in the hospital wing and she'd felt incredibly alone without him.

"I missed you too." He said warmly, causing her to hold him even more tightly.

It was only when they heard someone walking down the corridor that they reluctantly left eachother's embrace and Hermione took a few steps away from him, awkwardly tucking her hair behind her eyes while Ron fidgeted his feet. Hermione waited until the person walked inside the common room before promptly hitting Ron's arm.

"Ow! What'd you do that for?" He whined, rubbing a hand up and down his arm, looking at her incredulously. One minute she was hugging him, the next hitting him? It was enough to make anyone confused.

"Don't you ever put me through that again! I've been worried sick about you!" She said furiously. She'd hardly spent all of her time waiting around for him to come out of the hospital wing. She'd been researching every possible curse that Ron could have been hit with, to see if there was a curse that didn't have any effects until later on in a person's life. Having been unsuccessful with that, she'd then tried looking for a curse that could perhaps do damage with no pain being inflicted, but came out with nothing again. Whatever plausible sort of curse she thought of, there was never any documented case of it. So she had been left thinking that whatever curse had been put on Ron had literally just been invented. She'd never honestly believed that he'd walk out perfectly fine because nothing had ever worked out like that in her life with those she cared about.

She could feel a lump rising in her throat that she couldn't suppress and his gaze softened from seeing how vulnerable she looked.

"I'm serious." She said sternly, not letting the tears in her eyes stop her from making a point. "If you ever get put in the hospital wing again, I'll – I'll – I don't know what I'd do, so promise me you won't let that happen."

A tear trailed down her cheek which she immediately wiped away but that didn't stop him from seeing it.

"I promise." He said, not even sure if he'd be able to keep it. All he knew was that he would do anything to stop her from crying, but it seemed as if his agreement did nothing too help.

More tears flowed down her cheeks as all the emotion she had been holding back earlier that night decided to come pouring out of her. She pressed a hand to her mouth so she wouldn't make any noise but that didn't make it any less hysterical. Her body was trembling from how overwhelming her sobbing was and she couldn't have stopped it no matter how hard she tried.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to happen. I did try to stop Snape but I couldn't and-" Ron started, thinking he was the reason behind her tears, and walked closer to her.

"It's not you." Hermione said, spluttering slightly. She would have explained more if she wasn't having difficulty breathing from her crying. She wiped her nose with the back of her hand which caused Ron to start digging around in his pockets for something. He eventually pulled out a dirty handkerchief and grimaced at the sight of it. Something that resembled a laugh escaped from her lips upon the sight, making him grin until her laughter turned into another sob. He hastily cleaned the handkerchief with a charm before handing it to her. She dabbed at her eyes with it and wiped away the tears on her cheeks, but it was useless. She was crying too much.

Ron couldn't take it a second longer so he pulled her into his arms again. Her body was flooded with warmth and she could feel the pain inside of her melting away. He closed his eyes, holding her even tighter, as if that would somehow transfer all the hurt she was feeling too him instead. He didn't know why she was so upset but it didn't matter since he hated seeing her in such a state. He never wanted to see her like this again and he wanted to rip the heads off whoever made her cry.

She stopped shaking and relaxed into his embrace. She managed to adjust her arms so they weren't pinned against her like they had been and were instead clutching onto the front of his shirt. She couldn't believe that she was crying in his arms again but the thought didn't bother her as much as she expected. The feeling she got from being so close to him always managed to put her at ease so it was in no time at all that she managed to stop crying. They still didn't let go of eachother though.

"Are you going to tell me what made you so upset?" He asked, no longer able to keep his curiosity to himself. She pulled away enough so she could look up at him without him having to remove his arms from around her.

"Of course, but you can't tell anyone. I don't think I should even be telling you." She admitted, knowing it was better for Harry if only she and Ginny knew about his plans. But, she couldn't keep all her thoughts to herself. It was similar to what she'd thought in the dormitories earlier. She needed to talk to someone about it and the one person she wanted to talk too was the boy standing in front of her.

"Do you mind if we walk and talk? I wouldn't mind getting some fresh air." She said, needing to clear her head.

"Sure." He replied, thinking nothing of it. It was only then that they both became aware of the fact that their arms were still wrapped around eachother, and they immediately jumped apart blushing. They started walking and Hermione waited a few minutes for the awkwardness to die down before speaking.

"It's about Harry." She said, and Ron looked at her concerned, already knowing this wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation.

"What do you mean? Is there something wrong with him?" Ron asked.

"No, it's just," Hermione quickly looked around to make sure no-one else was around them before saying quietly, "He's not coming back to Hogwarts next year."

"Okay." Ron said slowly, slightly perplexed. He knew how importantly Hermione valued education but he doubted she would have gotten that distraught over Harry not finishing his.

"He's going to try and find the horcruxes with Dumbledore." She informed Ron, making his eyes double in size and his eyebrows shoot up.

"What? B-but, he can't. I mean, he has no idea where they are, does he?" He rambled, clearly shocked.

"No, and neither does Dumbledore. They both have a vague idea of what some of them are but who knows what good that will do them." Hermione said, and Ron ran a hand through his hair letting out a long sigh.

"Fuckin' hell." He uttered in disbelief. He blinked several times, at a loss of what to say.

"I told him I wanted to go with him that I wanted to help-" She started, and Ron looked at her as if she'd just lost her mind.

"Why?" He snapped.

"Why what?" She asked with furrowed eyebrows, as they made it outside.

"Why would you say that?" He said in the same tone.

"I – he's my best friend, of course I'd do that for him." She said as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

"Well I wouldn't know much about that, would I?" He retorted moodily, and Hermione immediately bit her lip in guilt. Although, she couldn't ignore the small stab of hurt she felt from his comment since she'd considered him her best friend and assumed he had too. Apparently she'd been mistaken.

He internally groaned seeing the expression on her face and quickly said, "I'm sorry, I don't why I said that, it's rubbish. I mean - you know I think that about you, right?"

If anything, the stab deepened, bringing a new level of pain with it. She gave him a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes and started wondering if there was something wrong with her. She was hurt when he didn't think of her as a best friend and she was hurt when he did. Couldn't anything ever be simple between them?

"Yes, you know I think the same about you, don't you?" She replied, making him smile in the exact same way as her and he nodded.

They walked for a short time saying nothing to one another, both of them oblivious to the tense silence because they were focussing on why they were both feeling hurt. Not wanting to concentrate on it too long, Ron remembered what they had been talking about and swallowed, trying to ignore the nauseating churn in his stomach.

"You going with him then?" Ron asked, not even attempting to hide his bitterness as he kicked a stone in front of him.

"He won't let me." She retorted angily, crossing her arms, feeling a cold wind rush past.

"Good." Ron stated, and she looked at him ludicrously.

"Good? How is that good? He's practically going on a life or death mission and you think it's good that I won't be there to help him?" She snapped, and Ron wheeled around in front of her, staring directly into her eyes.

"Yes, I think it's good, because at least you'll be safe." He said fiercely, and she swallowed, feeling her heart swell. Even in the dim light she could tell how intense his gaze was and it took all of her self-control not to focus on it.

"You don't know that! Dumbledore's not coming back to Hogwarts this year, and with Voldemort becoming stronger, who knows what'll happen here?" She said in the same tone as him, and he took a deep breath.

"At least I'll have some idea over how safe you are." He answered in a low tone, causing her anger to dissolve a little. She could see the worry in his eyes and she started thinking about what she would do if she were able to go with Harry. No doubt she would be spending the majority of her time fretting over whether Ron was safe or not and, when she thought about it, if the situation was switched so Ron was the one with Harry and she had to stay behind, she knew she'd break down. It would be bad enough with Harry gone but to add Ron as well, it would be too horrific. She'd go mad with worry over whether he was alive or not.

She gazed at him softly and hesitantly took a step towards him. Ignoring every single part of her that told her not to, she reached out so their fingers were touching. His gaze instantly dropped down to their hands and she looked at them as well.

A small smile spread across her face seeing how different they looked. His fingers were so pale and freckly compared to her slightly tanned, ink stained ones. She swallowed and took another step forward so they were only inches apart. She curled her index finger around his, showing how deliberate she was being with her actions.

She wanted him to take her hand in his. The one time they had done anything close to it was when they had been in the library, all those months ago, when he had first started opening up to her. It felt like a lifetime ago and she was beginning to forget how it had felt and she didn't want to forget. She wanted to remember how it had felt, but she didn't want to be the only one who wanted it. She needed him to reach out to her too, so she at least knew he wanted it.

She could feel her heart pounding in her ears as she stared at their hands, one of her fingers still around his. It remained like that for a long time and she was starting to lose faith when he eventually reached out and held her hand, entwining their fingers. Her breath caught in her throat and sparks spread throughout her whole body from where his skin was touching hers.

His gaze returned to her and she slowly looked back at him, not having a clue what was happening but for the first time in her life, she didn't care. She was getting lost in the emotion in his eyes. She couldn't read them but whatever it was was making her feel good.

"I don't know what I'd do if I lost you." He said quietly, and a feeling of comfort spread through her. "When you told me what that bastard Greyback did, all I wanted to do was break his own ribs."

She could see he was trying to look at the back of her head to check her hair but he couldn't without taking his hand out of hers.

"Is it still the same?" He asked, and she nodded.

"I don't mind though. I never really cared about my hair that much anyway." She answered honestly, and he smiled. He looked as if he wanted to say something else but thought better of it and remained silent.

She glanced down at their hands again which gave her the courage to say what she wanted.

"While you were in the hospital wing, I don't think I've ever been so worried in my life." She disclosed, reluctant to meet his eyes.

"Why? You knew I was okay." He said confused, and stroked the back of her palm with his thumb soothingly. She closed her eyes momentarily, relishing in the feeling it caused within her, before opening them again.

"But I didn't, I knew you were alive and that was all. At first that was enough, but then I started panicking over what could have been wrong with you. I spent so much time researching about it and everytime I'd find nothing. I couldn't sleep, I hardly worked, I was so unfocussed. I guess – what I'm trying to say is, I truly have no idea what I would do if I lost you too." She explained, and looked into his eyes.

He blinked blankly a few times, as if he couldn't believe what he had just heard actually came out of her lips, and looked at her in a way that made her toes curl. He was looking at her as if he adored nothing but her.

She pressed her lips together, feeling electricity flowing through her, and unintentionally gripped onto his hand more. He must have noticed it since she saw his eyes flicker. A sudden rush of heat spread through her when she felt something touch her other hand and saw his fingers were lightly grazing hers. He was doing the same thing with her that she had been doing with him. He wanted her to take the next step, so she did. She threaded her fingers inbetween his before closing them around the back of his hand.

She didn't know what she should do next. They were holding eachother's hands so... what next? She didn't want to talk anymore, she just wanted to be with him. She knew what she wanted the next step to be and it was that thought which caused her eyes to dart down to his lips. His eyes did the same and it reminded her of how close they had been to taking that step last week. She could honestly say that she thought they were about to kiss until Madam Pomfrey interrupted them.

But they were outside now. There was no Madam Pomfrey to interrupt them. There was no-one that could interrupt them. It was just them outside with the moon shining down on the lake. There was nothing and no-one that could possibly ruin the moment.

Heat flooded through her and she swallowed, looking back up into his eyes. They were looking at her lips so intensely that she needed to part them in order to breathe. He licked his own at the sight and she shuddered. He looked up into her eyes hazily and blinked slowly, breathing heavily.

"Hermione." He said huskily, and that was it. She couldn't take it anymore. She was sick of waiting for it and wanted it to happen already.

She went on her tip toes, holding tightly onto his hands, and tilted her head up, surging forward, pressing her lips firmly against his. She closed her eyes instantly upon the contact as a feeling she never experienced before ran through her. It was as if something had exploded inside of her and it sent her entire body alight. It overwhelmed her since her heart was beating impossibly fast and her blood was rushing through her veins. Her lips felt as if they were burning against his because the sensation was so powerful and it sent waves of fiery heat right down to her toes.

Nothing else mattered in that moment because nothing else was or could ever feel that inexclipably elating. She could scarcely believe it. She was kissing Ron.

She didn't think. She just felt. But as she was just feeling, it was becoming increasingly obvious that he wasn't responding. She was kissing him, something she had dreamt about for months, and he wasn't returning it. The heat inside of her suddenly turned bitterly cold and she instantly stopped.

She pulled back a few inches, suddenly regretting her actions. Of course he wouldn't feel the same way, why would he? He'd said a few minutes ago that he thought of her as his best friend, nothing else. She couldn't believe how idiotic she'd been to even think he would ever have felt anything for her except friendship.

It was with great pain that she opened her eyes, not sure if she'd be able to handle his rejection. She saw how his eyes were wide open and his eyebrows were raised, looking as if he was in complete shock. She bit her lip, feeling her heart sink into her stomach and looked down, quickly realising they were still holding hands.

She knew what she was about to do was cowardly, but she'd already been courageous and what had that done? Absolutely nothing except make her feel as if she was about to fall apart at any moment.

She reluctantly looked back at him to see him blinking rapidly, clearly still surprised. Feeling a lump rise in her throat, she turned away from him and ripped her hands out of his, walking away from him hurriedly. She only managed to take a couple of steps before she felt him grab hold of her hand. Despising how her body reacted to it, she looked back at him, unable to mask the hurt in her glassy eyes. She saw how he was no longer surprised, which she guessed was something, but she couldn't read the expression on his face. She'd never seen it before.

He tugged on her hand, making a little hope rise in her. Surely he would have said something by now if he didn't feel something similar to her. She still couldn't help but feel slightly apprehensive over it though, why didn't he just kiss her back before if he did?

Since she hadn't moved, he grew impatient and tugged on her hand again a lot harder. She was caught off guard so she stumbled a little and had to grab hold of his shoulder to steady herself. She stared into his eyes and saw that same unreadable expression.

They stayed like that for a few moments, until he slowly started leaning down. Her heart started pounding against her ribs as she saw his face was getting closer and closer to hers. His eyes were locked with hers the entire time until it got to the point where their vision became blurred. He stopped leaning down with an inch left between their lips. She could feel his hot breath on her lips, making them tingle, and not wishing to wait any longer, she closed her eyes again, tilting her head up so she could brush her lips against his.

The kiss was a lot softer this time but the feeling was no less intense and, if it was possible, it had heightened because this time he was responding. She could feel his full lips pressing against hers and it was bliss. She desperately wanted to deepen the kiss, but it was so perfect that she couldn't bring herself to. It was so tender and she couldn't remember ever feeling that loved before, so they simply remained kissing softly.

She felt him glide his thumb over the back of her hand, which sent shivers up her spine and she instinctively tightened her hold on his hand, breaking their lips apart. She was surprised at how breathless she was, considering how simple the kiss had been, but she was. She kept her eyes closed and felt him rest his forehead against hers, somehow knowing that he had his eyes closed too.

His free hand landed on her hip and ran to her lowerback where he pulled her closer so there was no space between them. Her body was flush against his in an instant and it immediately sent her into some kind of frenzy. All of a sudden, everything she had been feeling was amplified. She was starting to sweat and her middle was pounding.

She wanted to kiss him again. No, she needed to kiss him again, because she'd go out of her mind if she didn't act on some of the feelings stirring inside of her. He must have been feeling the same as his lips were back on hers, but this time it was anything but tender.

They both let go of the other's hand. Hermione wrapped her arms around his shoulders as Ron's wound around her waist while their lips moved against eachothers feverishly. Wanting to get that little bit closer, she went on her toes so he didn't have to lean down quite as much and she ran one of her hands up into his hair, as he pulled her bottom lip between his. She let out a small moan making him wind his arms around her even more so her toes were nearly off the ground. He lightly nibbled on her lip, sending a deep penetrating jolt of electricity directly to her core and she immediately parted her lips, unintentionally clenching onto his hair in anticipation. His tongue lightly touched hers, making her moan again, before she dove her tongue into his mouth, massaging hers against his. He let out a groan of his own and squeezed her so tightly that she was lifted off the ground.

She was in a complete state of happiness. Nothing could ever feel so wonderfully perfect. It was as if she had never experienced sadness she was so happy. With him kissing her, she knew that all this time he had felt the same way about her that she had for him. He couldn't fake the intense passion that he was kissing her with. There had to be something inside of him which yearned for her with a deep penetrating desire.

They were kissing so fiercely that it felt like there was a fire burning in the pit of her stomach which was ever growing. She ran her hands to his neck where she lightly dragged her nails against his skin, making him shudder and his hands went to the lowest point on her back. Their kissing was becoming more and more frantic to the point where her middle was pounding so hard that it was actually making her ache. She whimpered in his mouth, suppressing the urge to give into temptation and wrap her legs around his waist, making him moan before he placed her back on the ground. He instinctively grinded his hips into hers and she gasped into his mouth, feeling how he was just as aroused as she was. It exhililrated her in a way she'd never felt before and all she wanted to do was know what it felt like to have him inside of her. The mere thought of it made her push her hips back into his.

However, there was a small voice at the back of her mind that was slowly making it's way through. This was too fast. If they kept up at the rate they were going, she'd inevitably do something that she'd end up regretting later.

She reluctantly pulled away, nearly making him fall forward from the suddeness, as she breathed in deeply with her chest heaving. She didn't remove her arms from around his neck, not ready to completely part from him yet and let what happened between them sink into her memory. She was trying to catch her breath, feeling as if she was intoxicated. Now that she wasn't kissing him, she could feel how he was clutching onto her, his fingertips pressed deeply into her back, which did nothing to stop the strong pulsating between her legs.

She opened her eyes lazily and stared right back into his. He was flushed, had swollen lips and was breathing heavily. In that moment, she didn't think there was anything in the world that was as attractive as the sight before her. All she wanted to do was continue with what they were doing but she needed some answers first.

What did all of this mean? How did he feel about her? And, most importantly, what was going to happen next?

* * *

><p><strong>A:N Yes, it finally happened, but will it be smooth sailing from here? :P**

**I'll keep this short, but some of you may have noticed my lack of responding to reviews. I do try to answer all of you but sometimes I do miss out the odd person accidentally, and as time has passed I just don't have as much time as I once did to answer you all individually. I'll try to continue thanking you all but just don't be surprised if it takes awhile. That said, don't stop! I really do love them and they always remind me to keep on writing, no matter what.**


	24. Chapter 24

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=0dKZQs1xekY**

**Copy, paste and replace the closed brackets with fullstops.  
><strong>

To Be By Your Side

Chapter 24

Time To Leave

"_I didn't hear you leave_

_I wonder how am I still here_

_And I don't want to move a thing_

_It might change my memory."_

_Here With Me - Dido_

Their arms were still wrapped around eachother minutes later. They hadn't moved an inch. They were both stood, staring into eachother's eyes, wondering the exact same thing.

Hermione couldn't breathe, their bodies were pressed against eachothers so tightly it was practically suffocating. Despite this, she didn't want to move so she didn't. She stayed as she was, resisting the temptation to lean forward and press her lips against his again. She knew she couldn't, and she could tell from the look in his eyes that he knew why he couldn't either.

She slid her arms down so her palms were resting against his chest and he reluctantly loosened the hold he had on her. She wanted to look away from him but she was transfixed by his eyes. They were pulling her in and she never wanted to leave.

"We can't." She said quietly, doing her best to ignore the part of her mind that was screaming at her about how big a mistake it was to say that.

He looked completely crest fallen from the news and knowing she was the reason for it made her hate herself. She couldn't lie to him though. What they had just done couldn't lead to anything. It would be too complicated, simply because there were so many reasons why they shouldn't do it. It wasn't right. Well - that was a lie, it certainly felt right, but it was too illogical. It made no sense for them to become a couple. They couldn't do it. No matter how badly she wanted it to happen.

He must have understood her since he nodded, but he refused to meet her gaze. He let go of her entirely and took a step back, keeping his head low.

She was surprised at how the wind suddenly felt like ice against her skin so she crossed her arms beneath her chest, desperately attempting to ignore the pain that was working its way through her.

He plunged his hands into his pockets, fidgeting his feet and his shoulders tensed as he realised she was still there. She could tell he was already beginning to hate her and it was that thought which made her stomach plummet to the ground.

"I-I'm sorry." She said, hoping to get something out of him. Instead he just ignored her. He was refusing to answer her and argue back. Either he simply didn't care enough to try or he was too hurt to even speak to her.

She turned around and briskly made her way back to the castle. She forced herself not to look back at him, knowing if she did she'd probably take everything she said back and she wouldn't let herself do that. She knew what she had done was the right thing to do.

There was no way they could start a relationship with everything that had happened and was going to happen. She wouldn't do anything with Ron until she knew George was okay with it for one thing. She owed him that much. But then there was a lot more to think about. There was inevitably going to be a war with Voldemort slowly taking over the Wizarding World, so it wasn't a smart idea to begin a relationship under those circumstances. And then there was the whole situation with how she didn't even know if she was going to be able to return to Hogwarts next year. She was still determined to go with Harry on the hunt for the Horcruxes and if for some reason she couldn't, she would have to help him somehow and she didn't need the distraction of a relationship getting in the way.

What was she saying? Even with all those reasons she knew she'd never regret being with _him_. Because this was Ron. He meant everything to her. He helped her live her life the way she wanted too. He brought out the best in her. She couldn't think of anything that she would love more dearly than being with him.

She had probably ruined any chance of that happening though, because she realised in that moment where it looked as if everything he had ever hoped for was smashed to pieces, that he felt the same way about her. And that killed her, since she'd thrown it all away before it had even begun or given it a chance.

She wiped away the tear that was trailing down her cheek and kept moving forward, regretting every step she took away from him.

* * *

><p>Hermione was sat in the living room back at her house with her mum and dad. She had her legs pulled upto her chest as she mindlessly watched the football game that was on TV.<p>

It had been weeks since that night with Ron and they'd not said a word to eachother since then. The day after they had kissed, she had seen him in the corridor and froze. At the time, she didn't know what to say to him or where they even stood. By walking away, had she also sacrificed their friendship? It certainly seemed that way because he'd taken one look at her and turned in the opposite direction.

That was the end of it. Whenever they were in the same room as eachother, they'd ignore one another and in their spare time they'd avoid eachother. It was as if it was an unspoken rule between them that they both stuck too. Of course it hurt her to think their friendship was ruined, but what other choice did she have? He didn't want anything to do with her and she had to respect that. Even if that did mean she had to sacrifice her own happiness. For her though, her feelings didn't matter compared to his, because she never wanted to be a source of pain for him. That would have felt far worse than the way she was feeling now.

"Hermione, are you feeling okay?"

She blinked a few times, breaking out of her thoughts, and turned towards her dad, who was looking at her expectantly.

"Umm yes, fine." She replied, putting a fake smile on her face causing him to give her an apprehensive look.

"Are you sure? You'd usually be reading while I'm watching a match." He said, his eyes flicking to the screen briefly before returning to her. She chewed her lip, trying to think of a decent excuse.

"I'm sure." She answered, and he gave her a look that showed how he didn't believe her. He didn't press her on the issue though as he continued watching the football.

She couldn't believe herself. Here she was, thinking about Ron for the hundredth time, when she'd promised herself that she wouldn't take advantage of this day and would focus on spending time with her parents. After all, this was possibly going to be her last day with them.

Despite Hermione's best intentions, Harry had been resolutant in not allowing her to come with him, so a week ago she'd received a letter from him explaining how he'd left with Dumbledore on the search for the Horcruxes – which had been written so vaguely (in case anyone intercepted the mail) that it had taken her awhile to decipher what it meant, but that was besides the point. Naturally she'd felt furious with him at first, but once it dawned on her what he was actually doing, she'd broken down, exactly how she had with Ron when she first discovered Harry's plan. The only difference had been that no-one was there to comfort her.

When she eventually managed to calm herself down, she knew she had to come up with a plan to protect her parents. It was becoming clear that Voldemort was trying to infiltrate the Ministry, so who knew how long it would be before he had power over the whole of the Wizarding World? And since she wasn't going with Harry, she knew she had to go back to Hogwarts. At least there, she would be able to try and help him in some way. She could research about Horcruxes and try and discover more about Voldemort's history. The problem was with her at Hogwarts, she had no idea how safe her parents would be without her here. She wasn't willing to take a chance on her parents' lives, so she'd thought of the safest possible way she could protect them. It would break her heart to do it but she had too. She had no choice if she wanted to be sure they'd survive. She had to erase their memories.

She'd planned it all out. They'd be under the impression that they were Monica and Wendell Wilkins, a happily married couple who were finally going to take the trip to Australia they'd always dreamed about. Hermione had already secretly forged the necessary documents for their fake identities with magic, so that meant at least one thing was done. What she was least looking forward to was the actual process of erasing their memories and implanting new ones.

She'd researched heavily on the enchantments she would have to use and quickly learnt it was going to be no easy task. The enchantment needed was so complex because of the sheer amount of concentration that was needed in order for it to work properly. And she couldn't risk making any mistakes because if anything went wrong it could severely damage her parents' ability to remember anything in the future.

"I'm just going up to my room for a bit." She announced, standing up.

"Okay." Phillip replied, his eyes not leaving the television. Hermione hurriedly made her way up to her room and took out the book from under her bed that she needed. She pulled out her wand while quickly looking over the enchantment, miming the movements she'd have to perform and mouthing the words.

It had become a reflex of hers to revise the spell whenever she started feeling depressed, and so far it had been a successful technique. She couldn't help but wonder what she would do once it was done though.

When the ache in her chest had dissolved, she went back to her parents and made the most of the time she had left with them. It wasn't much since all she did was help her mum with dinner and then later talked with them about mindless chit chat, but it was enough.

The end of the night began when she put a sleeping draught in both of their cups of tea, to be sure they wouldn't wake during the process, and as planned, the effects were virtually instant. They'd both managed to say they felt like an early night before getting into bed and falling into a deep sleep.

Knowing there was no time to waste, Hermione set to work. She started off by changing their answer phone message to say they'd all decided to go travelling and had no idea when they'd return. She couldn't imagine there being much of an issue with their sudden disappearance since they weren't close with the rest of their family and they didn't have many friends. After they discovered she was a witch, it had been harder to keep it a secret and sooner or later people managed to work out they were lying to them and when they refused to tell the truth, people had gradually started distancing themselves from them.

Continuing with her plan, Hermione packed up their belongings and then hers before altering the furniture in her room so it looked more like a guest room. She then moved all of the stuff she couldn't take with her into a few boxes and put it up in the loft, casting a concealment charm over it. When she'd finished that, there was only one thing left to do.

She checked the time to see it was getting close to midnight meaning she couldn't put it off a second longer. She picked up the book off of her bed and made her way into her parents' bedroom. She opened the book to the correct page and put it on the bedside table, flicking on a lamp. She looked over the spell one last time to be absolutely sure it was embedded in her memory before looking at her parents.

They looked so peaceful. As if they had no idea what was about to happen to them. In all fairness they didn't, but they were so oblivious too it. She was essentially victimising them without their knowledge by taking everything away from them. Their memories, their family, their identities, even their personality. She was making sure they'd never have the desire to have children, thus altering what they wanted in life. She'd be taking away a dream, an ambition. The thought made her feel sick to her stomach so to prevent herself from dwelling on it any longer, she pulled out her wand and aimed it at them.

She took a few seconds to calm herself and closed her eyes, focussing on what she wanted to erase from their memories before casting the spell. She started with the easier things, such as their knowledge on Harry, magic in general and how they had opened their own dental practice. That wasn't particularly painful, but then she had to concentrate on herself, so they'd forget all about her. Having to concentrate on it so intently was what started the agony, knowing in the back of her mind why she was doing it.

Tears started streaming down her cheeks. She removed every trace of her, thinking over all of the time she'd spent with them. Birthdays and Christmases were flowing through her mind so quickly that they were all starting to blur together. She couldn't distinguish between one year and the next, but it didn't matter. All she had to do was think of every moment that she remembered where she was with them. Her heart was practically breaking from doing it, but not once did she lose focus because, in the end, this was all for their benefit.

When she was confident that she'd removed herself from their minds, she immediately started implanting the new memories, knowing if she gave herself a moment to pull herself together, she'd never be able to do it. If she stopped, she would stop altogether.

For this spell to work, she actually had to say what she wanted to do, so she hesitantly opened her mouth before saying in a level tone,

"You are Monica and Wendell Wilkins. You've been happily married for twenty years and for your anniversary you've finally decided to go on that trip to Australia you've always dreamed about. You've already packed all your belongings needed for your month long stay and all your travelling documents are in the bedside table next to you. You'll get up at six in the morning later today, and will leave at eight so you can head to Gatwick airport to get on the ten o'clock aeroplane that heads straight to Australia." Hermione swallowed, and took a deep breath before continuing,

"After a month, you'll make the decision to live in Australia. You'll do this no matter how awkward the situation may seem and you'll apply for dentistry positions there while closing the practice you have here in England. Once a year has passed, you'll start planning to open your own dentist practice over in Australia.

"I-if the topic of children ever arises, you won't stay on it long as neither of you ever want to have children, because you're perfectly happy as you are and a child would only get in the way of your lives." Hermione finished, and let her arm fall to her side.

She picked her book back up and turned off the light, before exitting the room. She wiped away her tears, knowing she couldn't give into her feelings just yet, and packed her book away. She'd used an undetectable extension charm on her school bag so she only had to take that with her. She flung it over her shoulder and made her way downstairs in complete darkness. She set the muggle alarm on the house before stepping outside into the rain.

It was only then that she realised there was something undeniably flawed with her plan. She'd had a feeling that she was forgetting something but was unable to think of what it was until that moment. Everything had gone so smoothly with her parents that there was bound to be something wrong. She'd already gone out and put a muggle-repelling charm on their dental practice so anyone who went there for an appointment would suddenly remember it had been cancelled. And for the two receptionists that worked there, they'd remember they quit their jobs because they wanted to start pursueing another career they dreamt about doing.

No, everything with her _parents_ was fine. What she'd forgotten to do was take care of herself. She hadn't arranged a place for her to stay. She'd been so focussed on making sure every detail of her parents lives were in order that she hadn't thought about her situation.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, not believing how stupid she'd been. She wondered what she could do. She couldn't stay with family, since she wanted to give the impression that she'd gone with her parents to Australia. She could try getting a room at the Leaky Cauldron, but she knew that wouldn't be safe enough. She was a prime target for the Death Eaters and Voldemort and they'd easily find her there. She didn't have any muggle friends and with Harry gone that really only left one place.

She walked around to the back garden and pulled out her wand before apparating there.

She landed a few feet from where she wanted and immediately checked over herself, making sure she hadn't accidentally splinched herself. Glad that she hadn't left any part of her behind, she made her way towards the house, not caring about how she was getting soaking wet from the rain.

She saw the light was on in the kitchen and there was a figure sat at the table. Thankful that someone was still awake, she hurried her walking but was caught off guard when she walked into something. She blinked several times and held out her hand for it to press against some sort of invisible shield. Of course they'd have protective enchantments around the house, how could she have been so idiotic not to remember that.

Apparently luck was on her side though, as the figure inside had obviously recognised her and was making their way outside. With the lack of light, it wasn't until they were right in front of her that she managed to recognise them, and a feeling of dread washed over her.

He stopped walking and she could now see how his wand was pointing at her.

"What was the last thing I said to you when we broke up?" He demanded, and she furrowed her eyebrows briefly before realising he was making sure it was really her. There was any chance that she could be someone in disguise.

"Even if you're not together, you still feel something for him don't you?" She quoted, ignoring how saying it only increased the sadness within her since she realised how true that statement still remained.

George looked at her shrewdly before lowering his wand.

"Sorry, had to check it was you." He said in an oddly formal tone. He reluctantly held out his hand to her, making sure his gaze was averted. "The only way you can get through the barrier is if I lead you through it."

Not having any other choice, she placed her hand in his, doing her best to ignore how it made her insides squirm. He pulled her through the invisible barrier and started running towards the Burrow. As soon as he was able to, he dropped her hand.

It wasn't until they were inside that Hermione realised just how late it was. It was the early hours of the morning and she couldn't help but wonder where all the time had gone. What she was more curious about though was why George was up so late, especially since he was the only one awake.

"Do you want a cup of tea or something?" George asked awkwardly, making his way into the kitchen as he magically made himself dry.

"Yes, thankyou." She answered in a similarly tense tone, suddenly realising how thirsty she was. He started making her tea as she glanced around, thinking how the house looked no different then the last summer when she had been there.

Trying to relieve the tension in the room, she asked, "So what are you doing up so late?"

"Just got in. Was at Lee's for awhile and lost track of time." He explained, and turned towards her as he waited for the kettle to boil. She nodded, thinking nothing of it. "Why are you up so late?"

She bit her lip, unsure about how to reply and George frowned. The kettle boiled so he poured out the water before bringing it over to her. She stirred her tea, focussing on it entirely as if doing so would make George and his questions dissappear. Naive as it was for her to do so.

"Hermione, what are you doing here?" He asked, making her chew her lip even more. She didn't want to lie but telling the truth would be worse because then she'd have to admit to what she'd done. "Are you okay? You look like you're about to be sick or something."

Her hands started shaking, nearly making her spill her drink so George took it off her. He looked at her concerned and she swallowed.

"I umm – I had to make sure my parents were safe so I..." She trailed off, her voice trembling. She looked all around her, trying to force down the sadness that was beginning to consume her.

"What? Did something happen to them?" He asked concerned, moving closer to her.

"No, I mean – yes, sort of." She answered, tucking her hair behind her ears and shivered, as if she'd only started feeling how cold she was from her rain soaked clothes. George looked at her shrewdly, and took a deep breath.

"Hermione, I know we've been through a lot of crap, and that we haven't exactly been talking lately, but that's all in the past now. I still care about you and if something's bothering you, you can tell me about it." He said truthfully, sitting down beside her.

The tears finally pooled over and started pouring down her cheeks. He placed a comforting hand on her back and she sniffed, trying to stop her crying but couldn't. She'd started and now she couldn't stop. She rested her elbows on her knees, putting her face in her hands in a vain attempt to hide herself and her emotions. Naturally it didn't but she didn't care.

After a few minutes, she hesitantly dropped one of her hands so she could be heard and said, "I modified their memories."

This only served in increasing her sobbing and she involuntarily let out a noise of agony, as the impact of what she'd done struck her hard. She had no idea if she'd ever see them again but it didn't matter, because they wouldn't know who she was. And it was all her fault.

"You what?" She heard George say shocked.

"I modified their memories." She repeated, oblivious to the hurt it caused her. "I made them forget all about me, everything about the Wizarding World and made sure they'd leave the country."

Her entire body was now shaking violently from her sobbing and she was having trouble catching her breath. She tried to breathe in deeply but couldn't, it felt as if her insides had closed up and were forcing her to suffer. She made several attempts to do it but was unable too.

She sat up straight, feeling her heart race in fear. All of a sudden she was feeling light headed and her vision was becoming blurred.

"I – I can't breathe." She choked out, no longer crying because of the lack of oxygen running through her veins. This seemed to break George out of whatever trance he was in and he looked at her alarmed.

"Oh Merlin, you need to calm down." He said shakily, running his hand up and down her back which did virtually nothing. She couldn't stop picturing their faces and how they'd never look at her like that again. All she could see were their kind, loving faces smiling at her proudly.

"Hermione, just focus on you're breathing, okay? Don't think about it."  
>But how could she not think about it? She'd taken her parents away without them even knowing it. They'd never know they had a daughter. They'd never know of the memories they had together. They'd never even know that they had wanted children.<p>

"Fuck! Please Hermione, I-I think you're having a panic attack, but what can I do? Shit! Please just..." George's voice was fading away, as all she could see was black. She knew she was still concious because she could feel her heart pounding in her chest so hard that it was hurting her. She tried sucking in the air but it was useless. Maybe she should just give in to what her body wanted. What was the harm if she never woke up from it?

"What's going on?" She heard a familiar voice say, that made her heart race in anything but fear.

"She's having a panic attack."

"What?" He exclaimed, before rushing over to them. She could see a blurred shape come into her view but she couldn't focus on it from the tears in her eyes and how dark her sight was. She blinked several times which helped a little, but she still couldn't breathe and she was starting to feel as if she was about to faint. That was when a sudden rush of heat flowed through her shoulders and she guessed from the pressure that he must have placed his hands there.

"Hermione, please, listen to me. Don't think about whatever it is that's making you feel like this. You need to focus on yourself. You need to breathe okay. Breathe through your mouth if it's any easier."

She did as instructed and parted her lips, attempting to breathe through her mouth, but it made no difference.

"I can't." She said, forcing the words out despite how difficult it was for her to do so.

"Please." He pleaded, his voice getting louder. She felt his hands run up her neck until he was holding her head steady, with his palms beneath her jaw and his thumbs brushing against her cheeks delicately. The tingling sensation it sent through her seemed to slow her heart rate and her vision started lightening up while everything steadily came into focus. She tried to breathe in and this time it actually worked. She sucked in the air gratefully and blinked several times, now able to make out that the figure in front of her was crouched down at her level with his face close to hers. She breathed in some more and revelled in the calm that flowed through her from it.

He stroked her cheek affectionately and let out a sigh of relief, seeing how she was breathing again. Her sight had finally returned to normal so she could see him properly and it would have been impossible to ignore how comforted she felt from looking at him. She felt so at ease and it might have been because she was still light hearted but she couldn't help grinning at him. He returned it and she closed her eyes, leaning into his touch.

With him gone from her sight though, she could remember what had made her panic attack happen and some tears leaked out of her eyes because of it. She had to bite her lip to stop it from trembling and she raised her hand so it was covering his that was still palming her cheek. She slowly opened her eyes sniffing and saw how concern was written in his features.

They exchanged a gaze of longing before she gave in and threw herself forwards, wrapping her arms around his neck and buried her face into his neck as she wept. He nearly fell back from the force of it but he managed to remain balanced, instinctively wrapping his arms back around her. She sunk to the ground so her legs were on either side of him, not even bothering to hold anything back. She let everything out, wanting to get lost in the feeling of being in his arms again. He tightened his hold around her and started stroking her hair.

"What happened?" Ron murmured softly in her ear, causing her to only tighten the hold she had around his neck as she remained silent, unable to say anything due to her crying. She instead moved closer to him, pressing her body against his and an unexplainable feeling passed through her. It was comforting but at the same time, it was so much more then that.

"What happened?" He demanded, speaking to George rather than her. She'd practically forgotten he was there and she instinctively tried to pull away but Ron's arms held her in place.

"She modified her parents memories so they'd forget about her." George said uncomfortably, looking away from them, unintentionally causing more tears to pour out of her eyes.

"What?" Ron exclaimed shocked, "Why?"

"I don't know. She could only tell me that before she broke down." George said, and that was when the inevitable happened.

"Look, I know it's the holidays boys but you really shouldn't be up this late-" Molly said sternly, as she made her way down the stairs before appearing in the room. Her eyes immediately landed on Hermione who was still sobbing in Ron's arms, but given the angle Molly was at, she wouldn't have been able to see the younger girl's crying. She looked at Ron and George outraged, and before either of them could explain, she snapped, "And what exactly is going on here?"

"Mum," Ron said pleadingly, succesfully making Molly's gaze harden.

"Don't try and talk your way out of this. You can't just invite people around at all hours of the night and not expect me to find out." Molly said, her voice rising. Hermione tried pulling out of Ron's arms again, but just like before they held her in place.

"You don't understand." Ron retorted, slightly frustrated causing Molly to point her finger at him.

"Don't use that tone with me." She said, growing angrier by the second. Hermione could hardly believe that Ron was choosing to stand up for her, even against his own mother, and it usually would have felt good but she'd just thought of that word. _Mother_. She let out a noise of pain and Ron's arms instinctively tightened around her as Molly furrowed her eyebrows, beginning to realise the state Hermione was in.

"What is going on?" Molly asked, attempting to sound calm but failing. She turned her attention to George and he sighed.

"Can I talk to you upstairs about this?" He said seriously, standing up. Molly looked like she wanted to say no but when all she could hear was Hermione's sobbing, she couldn't help but feel sympathetic towards her.

"Fine." She said reluctantly, turning around and marching up the stairs. George headed towards the stairs before he hesitantly turned around.

"Take care of her." He said to Ron with a reassuring smile, causing Ron to look at him confused. He didn't seem to mind though as he quickly followed Molly, leaving Ron and Hermione alone.

Hermione felt a weight lift off her chest she hadn't even realised was there and Ron must have felt the same thing happen to him since her body melted into his more.

It didn't seem to matter to either of them that they'd hadn't spoken to eachother in weeks because what had happened was so much more important then that. She'd just gone through this traumatic experience which made what happened between them seem so insignificant. For Ron, all that mattered was that what she was currently going through was destroying her and nothing could ever happen that would make him not want to help her in any way he could. Even if that meant hurting him in the process.

Hermione was still crying, but it wasn't nearly as bad as she had been, so she said,

"I did it to keep them safe." She said in a trembling voice. "I knew there was a chance someone would go after them to get to me and I couldn't let that happen. I didn't want them to get hurt because of me and my choices, so I made sure they'd never be put in harms way. I had no other choice so I made them forget all about me and the Wizarding World. I gave them new identities and they'll be leaving for Australia later today."

She closed her eyes, feeling as if she had been stabbed in the stomach, and more tears rolled down her cheeks silently.

He pulled her closer to him, not saying anything as a response, and was tempted to kiss her forehead but thought better of it. She certainly hadn't liked their last kiss given her reaction to it. Despite her current state, he couldn't help but tense from remembering the memory.

She must have felt it since she abruptly lifted her head up and wiped away at her cheeks.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to put you in this position, I just had nowhere else to go since I didn't plan it out enough and if I could, I would have gone somewhere else. I would have but-"

"No, it's fine. You did the right thing coming here." He said stiffily, and she glanced at him, sensing his hostility. She suspected she knew what was really bothering him

"I'm sorry." She said meaningfully, removing her arms from around his neck and sniffed.

"Stop apologising. You shouldn't be after what you've been-" He started sympathetically.

"It's not about that. I mean for what happened before, at Hogwarts." She explained, unable to prevent the blush that worked its way up her neck.

"Oh, right. Well...you can't exactly help the way you feel." He replied in the same tone, his ears turning pink and unwrapped his arms from around her. She looked at him perplexed.

"What?"

"It's not as if you chose not to feel anything like that for me." He said, his eyes looking away from her as if he couldn't bare the sight of her. She frowned, looking at him in disbelief.

"I never said-" She started.

"It's fine, you don't have to try and make me feel better. I get it, we just got caught up in the moment." He said, forcing the words out. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. How could he possibly believe that? Could he really think that she felt nothing for him after what had happened? That kiss had meant more to her than anything. It had awoken her very soul and given her a glimpse of what her life could be like. What a perfect life would be like.

"Ron, I didn't-"

"I guess I did as well so I should be sorry too." He lied, making Hermione's heart sink into her stomach. She'd been so sure that he had felt something similar to her. It wasn't often that she was wrong, but she would have chosen to be wrong about anything other than this. This was shattering what they'd done. This meant it wasn't what she thought it had been. It tainted it, making it into a pityful memory of something that was never going to happen, despite how badly she wanted it too.

"Oh okay." She said in a small quiet voice, looking down, feeling ashamed of herself for having such hope in what he felt for her.

There was a brief silence as it dawned on them what position they were in. She was practically sat in his lap and she immediately shifted so she was instead sat next to him. The heat she was previously feeling turned to ice and she involuntarily shivered.

"Do you want to just forget it ever happened then?" Hermione asked, with a distinct lack of emotion, knowing she would be doing the exact opposite. She was in so much pain that she didn't think it was possible for her to suffer anymore.

"Probably be for the best." Ron replied, glaring at the ground while he clenched his fist.

She knew what she was about to say was probably going to be a mistake. She would be stuck in the same position she had been in before with him. She didn't care though, because at least having him in life would mean something. Admittedly, somewhere along the line she'd end up hoping for something more again but she'd take that any day, because a friendship with him was far better then having nothing.

"I've really missed having you as a friend and I don't want that to ruin what we have." She stated, looking at him for the first time in awhile. She noticed he was staring intently at the floor with a tensed jaw before he put a fake smile on his face and looked back at her.

"Sure, I've missed having you as a friend too." He admitted, disguising the hurt he was really feeling. She gave him a smile similar to his own.

Another awkward silence was brewing but neither of them attempted to stop it. With them no longer talking though, they were able to hear the conversation directly above them.

"But why would she do that?" Molly said sadly, making Hermione bite her lip, knowing exactly who they were talking about.

"To keep them safe." George said, sounding exhausted.

"Then why didn't she go to the ministry for their assistance?" Arthur asked, making Hermione internally groan from another person talking about her situation.

"I don't know." George replied in the same tired tone.

Hermione thought it made perfect sense for her not to go to the ministry. She highly doubted they would take the measures she had and thought they would have simply put up more protective enchantments around her house and street. If that had happened, there still would have been the chance of her parents being harmed and she wouldn't take that risk. She had to be positive that nothing would happen to them and what she'd done had seemed like the only way to make sure of that.

"Well, we can at least try and help. I'll tell Kingsley about the situation tomorrow and I'm sure we'd be able to have someone look out for her parents in whatever country they'll go too." Arthur suggested, and Hermione felt a rush of gratitude go towards him.

"But where is she going to stay?" Molly questioned hesitantly.

"What's wrong with here?" George asked.

"I thought it would be uncomfortable for you, that's all." Molly said honestly, and a nauseous coil formed in Hermione's stomach. She didn't want to hear anymore of this.

"Would you mind coming with me later?" She asked Ron, that being the first thing that came to her mind. He turned his attention towards her, slightly confused so she explained, "I have to make sure the charm worked on...on my parents and that they've gone to the airport."

His expression instantly turned sympathetic.

"'Course, I'd never let you do that alone." He replied, being genuinely sincere. She gave him an appreciative smile as they heard someone was walking down the stairs. It was Molly again but this time she was looking much less furious.

"Okay Hermione, Arthur's explaining to Ginny what's happened and we'll set up the cot in her room for you to sleep in. We can talk more about what we can do for your parents tomorrow, but I think it's important for us all to get out rest now." Molly explained, a soft albeit forced smile on her face. Hermione swallowed, nodding.

"Thankyou so much, Mrs Weasley. I really am sorry for all the trouble I've caused." Hermione said appreciatively, standing up on her shaky legs.

"It's no problem." Molly said, sounding as if she wanted to say the exact opposite. Hermione did her best to ignore it and briefly explained about how she wanted to make sure the spell had worked on her parents later. For the first time, Molly looked sorry for her, without a hint of resentment.

"Of course dear, we'll do whatever we can to help you." She said truthfully, and Hermione let out a sigh of relief.

"Thankyou."

It didn't take long for them to sort out Hermione's bed so she was in Ginny's room in less than ten minutes. Hermione could tell that Ginny was pretending to be asleep for her benefit, which she was mentally thankful for, and she hastily changed into her bedclothes before getting into bed.

Once the warmth of the covers enveloped her, it sent a sense of calmness through her, and it was in no time at all that she was dreaming of a better place.

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><p><strong>A:N Come on, you didn't expect it to be that easy for them did you? :P**

**Bit busy so I only have time to thank you all for the reviews and thanks for reading and thanks for everything you do xD**


	25. Chapter 25

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=9cEL5gDJyuI**

**Copy, paste and replace the closed brackets with fullstops.**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 25

Serenity and Chaos

"_Remembering you fallen into my arms_

_Crying for the death of your heart_

_You were stone white so delicate_

_Lost in the cold."_

_Pictures of You – The Cure_

Hermione's breath caught in her throat at the sight before her. She couldn't believe she'd done it. It had all worked according to plan.

She was sat on a bench opposite her house with a concealment charm placed over her, looking inside the living room where her parents were. They weren't doing anything out of place. They were eating breakfast, like they would on any other day. But there was just something about them that had changed. Obviously she knew what it was but she hadn't expected to notice it from their appearance alone. She thought she'd have to wait till she heard them talking to see if the memory charm had worked. Apparently there was no need though, there was enough evidence before her. For an acquaintance it would be hard to notice it, but being who she was, Hermione could see it easily.

They somehow seemed more youthful. With all those memories gone; no longer aware of the fact they had a seventeen year old daughter, they looked as if they had their whole lives ahead of them. They didn't have as much responsibility in their lives and were virtually free to do whatever they wanted.

Even in the way they acted around eachother was different. They weren't holding anything back. Instead of eating on separate chairs, they were both on the sofa leaning against one another. When they finished their breakfast, they didn't move and start getting on with something more productive, they remained as they were. It couldn't have been for more than a few minutes but it was still strange for Hermione to see. They'd always be doing something, even if it was just watching the television. They'd never sit in the living room chatting to eachother without reading a newspaper or listening to the radio, but they were now. At one point they stopped to share a kiss too, causing Hermione's heart to sink into her stomach. They'd never been very affectionate with eachother in her presence and she'd never thought much of it. It was only after they'd had a few too many drinks that they'd start kissing or hugging in front of her.

She couldn't help but feel saddened, knowing she had affected her parent's relationship in that way.

"Are you okay? Do you want to go back? I don't mind staying and making sure it's worked." Ron said, reminding her that he was there. She didn't want to take her eyes off her parents for a second, not knowing when she'd be able to see them again, so she instead placed her hand on top of his.

"No, I need to stay." She replied slowly, furrowing her eyebrows as she saw them go upstairs. Ron didn't question her any further since he'd thought she'd say that. He glanced down at their hands before looking back at her, noticing her glassy eyes. He could feel how tense she was from the way she was holding onto his hand, so he twisted his wrist so his palm met hers and entwined their fingers. She squeezed his hand back in appreciation, making him smile lopsidedly.

Her parents came back down the stairs, this time with their luggage too and Hermione tensed even more, knowing what was about to happen. They walked outside, making her hold her breath.

"Where are the tickets?" Phillip...Wendell asked, carrying a large suitcase in one hand while holding a notebook and pen in the other. Audrey – Monica opened the boot of the car before placing some bags in it.

"They're in my handbag which I'm about to put in the front seat of the car." She replied, picking up his suitcase as he ticked off 'the tickets' on his list.

"Passports?"

"In my bag as well."

"Schedule?"

"In your notepad."

"Phone numbers?"

"Wendell, do we have to go through this procedure everytime?" Monica said, making Hermione flinch. That was all she needed to hear to know whether or not the spell had worked. What made it all the more painful was that it seemed like nothing had changed for a few seconds. They'd been just like her parents on every other holiday they'd been on. They'd been Audrey and Phillip, not Wendell and Monica.

"It doesn't hurt to make sure." Wendell answered tiredly, before looking at Monica. She had a soft smile on her face, letting him know she was joking. A smile of his own spread across his face and he pocketed his notepad and pen. "Shall we go?"

"Yes, that'd be great." She said relieved, shutting the boot door while Wendell locked the front door to the house.

"I've already locked the back door." Monica called out, knowing what he was about to do as she got in the car. Wendell chuckled and got into the car as well, before they drove out of sight.

Hermione didn't know what to feel. She was glad the spell had worked and at the same time sad it had. Yes, they were safe now, but she'd lost them in the process.

She felt Ron stroke the back of her palm softly which caused all her uneasiness to melt away.

"You ready to go?" He asked quietly, and she nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She had a feeling that once she started talking all her feelings would come flooding out of her.

They both stood up and she was sure she would have fallen down from how badly her legs were shaking if she hadn't been gripping onto his hand. She felt like she was in a daze. She was feeling all of these emotions but she couldn't focus on any of them, so instead she was numb. It was as if nothing was happening, as if she was in some sort of dream state.

"I can apparate us both back if you want." Ron suggested, and she looked at him blankly. It took her a minute to understand what he was saying but once she did, she nodded again. The concern in his eyes was impossible to not see and it was that which made a feeling far more distinct than the others. She forced it down, not wanting to break down again and looked away from him. His eyes remained on her while he didn't move a muscle, making it all the more difficult for her to keep her emotions at bay.

"Are we going or what?" She snapped, resorting to an old tactic to stay strong in front of him. She despised herself for doing it but she didn't know what else she could have done. She heard him sigh but he didn't say anything, instead they walked into a secluded place between two points as he pulled out his wand and then apparated them back to the Burrow.

Her feet felt unusually heavy when they landed. All she wanted to do was sink to the ground and never get back up again. He started heading towards the house but turned around when he realised she wasn't following.

"I'm going to stay here for awhile." She said, a soft breeze flowing over her, helping relax her.

"Are you sure? Do you want me to stay?" He asked comfortingly, and for the first time that day, happiness began inking itself through her.

"If you wouldn't mind."

He made his way back to her and they sat down on the grass, their hands still clasped together. Hermione didn't hesitate in resting her head on his shoulder, needing to feel that warmth she always felt whenever they touched. It instantly set her at ease and she closed her eyes, letting everything sink in.

She didn't realise until then how desperately she needed this moment; where everything was perfectly serene. It was something about the wind blowing through the trees, feeling the grass beneath her skin, staring out at the landscape that relaxed her whole being.

The moment somehow managed to become more perfect when he took his hand out of hers so he could wrap an arm around her waist. Normally this would have sent her into some kind of frenzy, but in this state it helped make her feel better, washing away the sadness.

No words were exchanged between them, because none needed too. She didn't know how long they stayed like that, because eventually exhaustion had taken over and she'd fallen asleep. When she awoke again, she was no longer in the safe confines of his arms but was in her bed, clutching onto her duvet cover. It was only then that she allowed herself to let go of everything she was feeling.

* * *

><p>A couple of weeks passed faster than she thought possible. Although it was difficult, it did become easier with each passing day and she knew it was because of the people she was with. Initially it had been tense, particularly with Molly and George, but once they all got used to her being around it seemed hard to believe there had ever been any awkwardness at all. They weren't exactly comfortable if they were left alone but apparently that wasn't going to be a problem with Bill and Fleur's wedding coming up.<p>

The house was in complete chaos from it since it was being held at the Burrow. Everyone was spending all of their time in helping prepare for it in any way they could. This mainly meant that Molly had taken on a lot of the duties needed for the wedding, leaving the normal house chores to the younger members of the household. It was for that reason Hermione had barely spent anytime with just one other person.

It became even worse after Fleur and Bill arrived along with Fleur's family a few days before the big day. It meant that Fleur's sister, Gabrielle, was forced to sleep in Ginny's already cramped room, virtually extinguishing the last amount of time Hermione had to herself. She didn't mind all that much, in a way it was easier to keep her mind off of other things, but that also meant she hadn't been able to spend time with the one person she really needed too.

It was odd not being able to be with a person when you were both living in the same house. Whenever she'd try to find him, she'd run into someone who would give her another job to do. The only time they saw eachother was at meal times, and even those had become brief with everyone eating as quickly as they could since they always needed to get on with something else. Unfortunately, that was why she had barely said two words to him since the day they'd seen her parents.

It wasn't until the day of the wedding she was able to speak with him.

* * *

><p>As expected, the ceremony had been beautiful. Everything had gone perfectly and even though Hermione barely knew the couple, it had been an incredibly touching scene to witness. No-one could have denied the immense amount of love that was shared between them as they exchanged vows, gazing at eachother the way they had been. While it had been stunning in that way, she couldn't help but feel fascinated by it as well. Having never been to a wizarding wedding, it was interesting to see how it meant more than a muggle wedding. Maybe it was the use of a spell that embedded their vows, or maybe it was because she'd never been to a wedding where the couple had been so in love, but there was a certain aspect about it that seemed as if it would last forever.<p>

Hermione was now sat at a table by herself, sipping at some butterbeer. She had been with Ginny and Luna but they'd decided to dance. She laughed at seeing Ginny's expression from Luna's...unique dance moves. Ginny quickly shrugged her shoulders and danced similarly, looking genuinely happy for the first time since Harry ended things between them.

Hermione's gaze gradually wandered over the crowd, noticing how virtually everyone was dancing except for those few who were talking and still drinking. She wasn't sure why she didn't feel like dancing herself, but it might have had something to do with wanting to dance with someone in particular.

She took a large gulp of her butterbeer before looking down at her lap, straightening out the skirt of her dress. Well, technically it was Fleur's, since Hermione hadn't expected to be needing a formal outfit when she was packing, so Fleur had generously offered to let her have it. Fleur had said she'd never really liked it and that Hermione would actually be doing her a favour if she had it. While Hermione didn't believe a word of what Fleur said, she accepted it and was glad she had, even though she did have to make a lot of adjustments in order for it to fit properly.

Admittedly, it wasn't something she'd usually go for. The cut was a bit too low for her liking and the fit might have been a little snug, but Ginny had insisted that she shouldn't alter it anymore so she'd kept it as it was. It was fairly simple, but was still pretty. It was sky blue in colour and had thin straps with the bodice of it clinging onto her skin while the skirt fanned out to her knees. Luckily, Fleur had also had a matching pair of shoes with a small heel which she was also wearing.

Hermione took another gulp of her butterbeer, finishing it off when she heard,

"Do you want another?"

She whipped her head around to see Ron standing behind her with a lopsided smile on his face, holding a butterbeer in one hand and a drink she couldn't identify in another. Having only managed to catch glimpses of him before, she was surprised at how seeing him sent her heart racing. She'd never seen him dressed so formally and it was making her squirm uncomfortably. He was in a set of new dark blue robes that co-ordinated brilliantly with his eyes and his hair, while slightly messy, still looked as if it had been combed back.

She blinked a few times, feeling a blush working its way up her neck, and beamed at him.

"Yes, thankyou." She replied eventually, and he handed the drink to her as he took a seat next to her. All of a sudden, she was finding it stifingly hot so she immediately started drinking and didn't stop until she'd finished half of it.

"Thirsty?" He said sniggering, his eyebrows raised. She swallowed painfully and nodded, just realising how flushed he looked. Now she could look at him properly, she could see his eyes were slightly hazy and how he was a bit sweaty. She scrutinised him for a second longer before glancing at the clear liquid in his hand.

"Ron, is that firewhiskey?" She asked, and he snorted, failing in trying to hide his grin, practically answering the question for her.

"Maybe." He replied chuckling, and she shook her head in disbelief. It was irresponsible for him to be drinking, but then again what was really wrong with it? He was at his brother's wedding and he was of age so there wasn't exactly a problem. But she couldn't help but still feel that twinge of annoyance that he'd done it, despite there being no real issue.

"You shouldn't have done it." She said disapprovingly, which only caused him to chuckle a little.

"Why?" He asked, and she sighed, unable to come up with a decent reason. She glanced over at him and seeing how handsome he looked in that moment somehow dissipated her anger.

"Come on then, how many have you had?" She questioned, smiling playfully and guessed by his louder than normal laugh that it was certainly enough.

"A few." He replied, stifling more laughter and she rolled her eyes.

"What am I going to do with you?" She said jokily, taking a sip of her own drink.

"Anything you want."

She coughed on her drink, her cheeks aflame as warmth flooded her stomach. The last time he'd said something in a tone like that had been just before they kissed. That thought only heightened her embarassment since a familiar pulsating started between her legs.

She swallowed and looked over at him to see he was grinning at her, completely unaffected by what he said, which only proved how much he had drunk. She knew he'd normally be utterly embarassed by his comment but on the contrary, he was actually looking very confident.

She blinked a couple of times thinking it over before glancing at him again. Was he...flirting with her? She instantly put it down to his intoxicated state, thinking he wouldn't ever do it if he was in his right mind.

"I think you've had enough to drink." She said, taking his drink off him and placed it on the table out of his reach. He shrugged his shoulders lazily, sinking back into the chair and looked at the dance floor for a moment before turning his attention back to her.

"You look beautiful." He stated, practically making her heart burst with joy and she beamed at him, all thoughts of his state drifting out of her mind. She didn't know how to reply, she couldn't remember him ever saying anything similar about her before and he'd said it with such conviction that anyone would have thought he'd said it a hundred times.

She pressed her lips together, resisting the urge to chew on her lip, and tucked a wisp of her hair behind her ear, her gaze downcast.

"Thankyou." She finally said, "You look rather handsome yourself."

She forced down her embarassment and looked over at him, to see him surprised but undeniably pleased too. She smiled shyly at him and took a few gulps of her butterbeer, suddenly feeling parched.

Out of nowhere, he abruptly stood up and held out his hand to her.

"Come and dance."

"Okay." She said instinctively, not wanting to refuse an offer that might never arise again. He led her to a space in the dance floor where they stood awkwardly for a second, neither sure of what to do until Ron quickly opted to take a step closer to her, placing his hand on her back. His other hand was still holding hers so he moved them so he was leading her as she put her other hand on his shoulder. It was awkward at first - for the both of them, since neither of them really knew how to dance properly, but it didn't take long for them to find a rhythm that suited them. Naturally it wasn't perfect, they kept on tredding on eachother's toes and knocked into other people dancing more times than they could count, but it didn't matter because they were happy.

As he span her out, he did it a bit too roughly so she stumbled, nearly crashing into another couple, before spinning her back into his arms, again too roughly. It didn't help that she wasn't used to wearing shoes with a heel so when she stumbled this time, she would have fallen if she hadn't stopped herself by gripping onto his shoulders. Feeling completely ridiculous, they both started laughing and she straightened up to realise just how close they were. Their laughter died down and she swallowed, knowing exactly what was going to happen if she didn't stop staring into his eyes. While it would have been wonderful for that to happen, she remembered what he'd said about the one and only time they'd done it and it was knowing that which made her take a step back.

It seemed ironic that the song changed into a slow one then. They started dancing in time with it and she forced herself to look at his tie so she wouldn't do anything she'd regret. Meanwhile he was doing the exact opposite, since he was staring precisely where he wanted. He was searching her eyes, trying to work out what was happening between them. He didn't like where they were. He was back to being just her friend and while that was great, in a sense it wasn't. He was back to wanting what he couldn't have and that killed him. He'd spent months being trapped in the situation and had a glimpse of freedom before returning back to his imprisonment. He didn't want to spend all his time hoping for something that could never be, more importantly he wouldn't.

"Hermione," He said, gaining her attention. She looked up into his eyes and he swallowed before saying, "Do you really want this?"

She furrowed her eyebrows, not having a clue what he was talking about.

"To be friends with me." He explained, slurring slightly.

"Of course I do. I wouldn't have said I did if I didn't." She said simply, and he licked his lips, unintentionally holding onto her waist and hand more tightly.

"But - is that all? You don't want to be anything else?" He questioned, and her eyes widened. Had he figured her out? Her stomach tightened as she felt uncomfortable, wanting to be anywhere except where she was.

She stayed silent, knowing if she did reply it would be a lie and she couldn't lie to him, but she couldn't tell the truth either. She'd already put her heart on the line and he'd shot it her silence revealing the truth though?

"Do we have to talk about this here, now? You're not exactly in the right state too." She said irritably, and he gritted his teeth.

"Don't do that. Just tell me, did it mean anything?" He asked in the same tone as her.

"Does what?" She retorted, and he sighed angrily. He glanced around and let go of her waist, but still kept her hand in his. He started walking through the crowd with her following him and she worked out he was taking her somewhere where they could talk in private. They exitted the tent and he headed towards the Burrow, not stopping until they were inside.

As soon as the door closed, he dropped her hand looking lividly at her.

"Don't pull that bullshit on me! You know I'm talking about our kiss." He snapped, and she crossed her arms, using all her self-control to not recall the memory.

"Yes well, how exactly did you expect me to respond? I thought we'd already agreed to forget it ever happened." She retorted, not hiding her bitterness. She could feel a headache coming on so she started taking her hair out of the tight bun it had been in, unintentionally taking her anger out as well.

"Like that matters! I don't know about you but I find it hard to forget something like that." He stated, and she looked at him, hope rising inside of her.

"Something like what?" She asked calmly, and he ran a hand through his hair frustratedly.

"Can you honestly say it meant nothing to you?" He said heatedly, and she looked at him absurdly, not believing he could think such a thing.

"No, of course it didn't." She snapped, pulling a clip out of her hair too harshly and she winced.

"Then why did you say it did?" Ron all but shouted at her and she glared at him acidicly.

"I didn't! You were the one who said it was in the heat of the moment sort of thing, all I did was agree!" She shouted, slamming the various clips and hairbands onto the table.

"No! You were the one that said nothing could happen. You were the one that said you couldn't about two seconds after it happened. You were the one that threw it all away!" He bellowed, no longer sounding angry but hurt.

An immense amount of guilt fell upon her and she bit her lip, feeling a lump rise in her throat. She looked down, ashamed of herself for the truth that his words held. It was all her fault.

"It wasn't like that." She said quietly.

"It bloody was! It – it hurt what you did. I must have been a prat to think you could feel that way about me." He said, his voice breaking mid-sentence and he turned his back to her. Tears were welling in her eyes but she forced them down, taking a breath to calm herself.

"I just said I didn't say it for that reason! I said it because I didn't think it would be right for us to do it!" She said, pleading with him to listen to her. He frowned, and turned back towards her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked.

"I thought given the circumstances it would be a bad idea, because of my history with George and with Voldemort's power rising." She explained, and it looked as if a light clicked on in his head.

"Then why didn't you say that?"

"I thought you understood -"

"Well clearly I didn't! You can't expect me to know that when you don't tell me." He said, feeling like a complete idiot.

Hearing him, more guilt fell on her and she wondered why she'd never explained. Of course he would think that. She knew him and that he'd always think the worst of himself, so why would that situation be any different?

"If I didn't feel that way about you, then why did I kiss you in the first place?" She asked, not really wanting an answer. He blinked a few times, processing the information and what it implied, before looking back at her.

However, his attention was drawn away to something he saw outside the window. She turned around and saw a patronus was heading towards the tent. She frowned, unsure as to why there would be such a need for a spell.

"We should go and see what it's about." She announced, trying to work out why an unsettling feeling was washing over her.

"Yeah." Ron answered slowly, clearly thinking along the same lines as her. They both walked outside the Burrow to have the question answered for them as a sudden burst of screaming was heard and they saw people running out of the tent in every direction before apparating themselves away. One side of the tent caught fire and they could hear spells being shot all over the place, meaning only one thing. Death Eaters had attacked.

Ron instantly started running towards the tent but Hermione grabbed hold of his hand and pulled him back. She abruptly apparated them away without a moment's thought and they appeared in the centre of muggle London, Tottenham Court Road. She was lucky that it was so busy since their abrupt appearance virtually went unnoticed, and those who had seen them obviously thought they were seeing things so they carried on walking.

"What the hell was that about? We should have stayed there, we should have helped! That's my family and I have no idea if something's wrong with them!" He shouted, ripping his hand out of hers, wanting to storm off but since he had no idea where he was, he had to stay.

"I know that, Ron, and I'm sorry but I had to get you out of there!" She retorted fiercely, well aware of the attention they were recieving from their shouting.

"It wasn't your decision to make though! You could have warned me!" He snapped, and she noticed how he was pulling out his wand. Her hand snapped around his wrist of its own accord and she stepped closer to him.

"I am sorry, Ron, but I did what I had to do. My first thought with the Death Eaters arriving there was that they were trying to get you because of what happened that night at Hogwarts." She said quietly, giving him a stern look, hinting that he should keep his voice down.

As he thought over her words, his anger slowly dissolved but it was replaced with an arguably worse emotion.

"What makes you think that they want me though?" He asked, trying not to show how scared that made him.

"Because they may have intended to kill you that night, since the Dark Mark was above your body, but they might have found out you're actually still alive." She explained, and saw how he grew paler with every word she spoke. "It's only a small possibility but I couldn't take any chances. I wanted to be absolutely sure nothing could happen."

He swallowed and ran a hand through his hair, taking a deep breath.

"I'm sorry, we can send a patronus in a minute if you want, we just need to find somewhere more inconspicuous." She said, hoping that would be enough to get the fearful expression off his face. He nodded and she quickly let go of his wrist when they started walking. They had only walked a few steps when she felt his hand wrap around hers. She glanced over at him and saw how worried he was for his family so she gave his hand a squeeze, walking that little bit faster to a safe destination.

It didn't take them long to find one. Luckily for them, Hermione knew her way around London very well so she was able to find them a deserted street where all the shops had closed down. They walked into an alleyway where she quickly cast a patronus letting the Weasleys know that they were safe, but didn't give their whereabouts for obvious reasons.

Once she was done, she turned around to see Ron leaning against the wall behind him looking fretful. She bit her lip, wondering what she could do to help.

"We can't do much else I'm afraid until we hear back from them." She said, and he nodded, successfully making her even more worried for him. He hadn't said a word to her since she mentioned her theory on why the Death Eaters had attacked.

She couldn't believe she'd been so casual about it all. She'd just been so used to talking about those kind of situations with Harry that they'd virtually become second nature to her. It was something that they always had to consider and while it was scary, it wasn't as much of a terrifying thought then when it had been the first time they had to deal with it. But this was Ron, who wasn't used to these kinds of situations and had it thrust upon him, not really having any idea as to why it could be happening to him.

"Did you want a drink? Or something to eat? We'd probably be able to get something a couple of yards away and bring it back here." She suggested, and he shook his head looking down at the ground as he scraped his shoe along it.

Not knowing what else she could say, she remained silent. She shivered, realising how cold it was, and crossed her arms, rubbing them up and down.

Maybe she was wrong about it all. It wasn't exactly news now that Voldemort was taking over the Wizarding World, and Death Eaters had been making random attacks everywhere to demonstrate their power, so it was possible that it could have been another one of those situations. And what better way of showing off your power than by destroying what should be a happy, loving ceremony?

"Are you cold?"

She blinked a few times, breaking out of her reverie and turned towards Ron. He was looking at her expectantly and she had to wait a moment for what he said to sink in.

"Oh, no I'm fine." She replied, but he started taking off his jacket. "Really, I'm okay."

"Don't be stupid, it's freezing out here and I've got enough layers on." He said firmly, forcing it into her hands.

"Okay." She said, thinking it best not to disagree with him since she was actually cold and put the jacket on. "Thank you."

He gave her a smile that didn't reach his eyes and glanced off.

They were silent for a few minutes, both fidgeting awkwardly but for very different reasons.

"Please say something. Anything, I just don't want to think about it right now." Ron said pleadingly, and a rush of her sympathy went towards him.

But she had no idea what to say. What was appropriate in a situation like this? All she could think about was the wedding and everything that could be happening there at that precise moment in time.

"You're a good dancer."

She could have hit herself for saying something so stupid. Of all the things she could have said, that was what she'd chosen to comment on?

Ron furrowed his eyebrows and looked over at her, as if he couldn't believe what he'd just heard. Seeing how embarrassed she looked, he had no option but to trust he'd heard correct. He let out a small burst of laughter and she whipped her head around.

"Now that's a lie." He stated lightly, smiling playfully. A smile of her own was working its way onto her face and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"What makes you say that? It wasn't that bad." She said truthfully, and he snorted.

"It wasn't good either though! I kept on tredding on your feet and we kept on knocking into other people dancing. I think we managed to get half the people off the dancefloor because they were getting so frustrated with us." He said, making her laugh.

"I suppose. Technically it wasn't good then, but I still enjoyed it. It was nice." She said, remembering how it felt being that close to him again. He gazed at her softly as she blushed and pulled his jacket around her more.

He swallowed, not entirely sure if what he was about to say was the best idea. Now that he was most definitely sober, the prospect of talking about it was a lot more daunting. He took a deep breath and said,

"You know before – when we were talking about...what happened at Hogwarts – between me and you."

"Yes." She said slowly, worried about where this conversation was leading. Ron's ears started turning red and he scratched the back of his neck.

"Did you...when you said...actually, it doesn't matter. Forget I mentioned it." He said, hating that he was backing down but couldn't see how he could continue talking without making a prat of himself.

"Did what I say about me kissing you imply that I had feelings for you?" She said for him, ignoring how nervous she was feeling. They needed to have this conversation and it was probably better they had it sooner rather than later.

"Well...yeah." He replied, his entire face turning a bright red as he continued, "So do you?"

She closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath before saying the one word that could be either the best or worst thing that ever happened to her,

"Yes."

She opened her eyes, not entirely sure what his response would be. When she looked at him, he had the exact same expression on his face after she had first kissed him. He just looked shocked. At the time, she had no idea whether that was a good thing or not, and she still felt the same way about it.

"Have they changed? Do you still feel that way?" He asked hesitantly, making her want to dig a hole into the ground so she could climb into it. How could he ask her that when he'd given no indication whether or not he had those feelings for her?

She chewed on her lip, tucking her hair behind her ears.

He was making his way towards her at a torturously slow pace. She didn't know what he was intending to do or why he was doing it and it set her on edge. Then she looked at him. All she could see was a mixture of hope and longing in his expression and that's when it hit her. There was only one reason why he would be looking at her like that, and she wasn't going to let a shred of doubt cloud over her mind and make her think differently. He clearly felt the exact same way. Why else would he be looking at her in that way? It was because of that she had the courage to say how she truly felt.

"A couple of weeks could hardly change something like that in any way at all." She stated, and he stopped walking, inches in front of her. His expression had now changed into one of complete relief and elation. She grinned at him, wondering if it was possible for her heart to be beating any faster than it already was, and he returned it.

"What about you then? Do you feel the same?" She asked, not really needing an answer, but still wanted one nonetheless.

"'Course I bloody do." He said, scoffing at her. She laughed heartily at him and was about to throw her arms around him in an embrace when they were brought firmly back to reality. A patronus had appeared in front of them, and she guessed by the voice of it that it was Arthur's as it said,

"We're safe now."

* * *

><p><strong>A:N From your reviews in the last chapter, it was quite mixed on whether you guys liked it or not so for those of you that didn't like it, hopefully this chapter makes up for it? And maybe make it a little understandable as to why I did it? Sorry again. I'd just like to thank the people that didn't like it though, as you all said it very constructively and it genuinely did help me. **

**Despite that, thanks for reviewing and keep 'em coming ;) It's gotten to the point now where I really just don't have the time anymore to thankyou all individually and I do hate that but I do appreciate them all! And I figured you'd guys prefer me spending my time writing rather than thanking you all ;)**

**Also someone (sorry can't remember who) was saying how I haven't actually gotten to the point where we're finding out about why Ron's in Slytherin and how they felt I was stringing them along with this fic. I am sorry you feel that way but I can assure you that wasn't my intention. Really this fic has two parts to it, 1) the development of everyone's relationships, what differs from the canon etc (which we're coming to the end of now) and 2) when Ron and Hermione try to find out why he's in Slytherin, Voldemort's rising of power. When I started this fic, I had a basic outline of where I wanted to take it but not a detailed one so I couldn't have really said this at the beginning. That's not to say the first part has been entirely pointless in the reasons to why Ron was placed in Slytherin, as there has been some hints about his placement there. Again, I'm sorry for not mentioning this earlier.**

**On a complete unrelated note, I've been sucked into the TV series Sherlock recently and *brain explodes* I've fallen in love with it completely so for some reason, I'm now recommending you all watch it. Honestly, it's one of the most cleverly written, brilliant shows I've watched in a long time. And I'm also in the small category of Sherlock/Molly shippers it seems :P**

**Anyway, as always expect the next chapter in two weeks, and thanks for reading!**


	26. Chapter 26

**A:N/ Link to the song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=GNFs2CkCFaw**

**Copy, paste and replace the closed brackets with fullstops.**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 26

A Plan

"_You are not alone_

_I am here with you_

_Even when you're scared_

_I'll never leave you_

_Standing in a storm_

_Making it insane once again_

_I will try to unchain you."_

_Lonely – Yael Naim_

Ron apparated them back to the Burrow instantly and they were shocked by the sight before them. The tent that the wedding had been held in was now burnt to the ground, along with all the furniture and objects that had been inside of it. Even though the flames had died out, the smoke was still flowing through the air from it, proving just how recently things had been put under control again. That was more than enough incentive for them to rush inside the Burrow, all thoughts of their previous conversation vanishing from their minds.

When they crashed through the front door, both of them were relieved to see that no-one was hurt, just shaken.

"And where exactly have you two been?" Molly shrieked, with her hair singed and the bottom of her dress torn. She had been doing what she usually did whenever she was anxious or worried and had been washing the dishes manually.

"I'm so sorry Mrs Weasley, I just apparated us out of here as soon as we saw what was happening. I thought it was possible that the Death Eaters would be after Ron – given what happened to him at Hogwarts -and I also thought they might have discovered that I was here now, so they might have wanted me for information about Harry." Hermione rambled, trying to catch her breath.

Arthur sighed as he collapsed onto the sofa behind him before magically fixing his glasses and put them on.

"No-one apart from us knows you're staying with us and as for Ron..." He trailed off, dreading what they would have done to his son if he had been why they attacked. He stared at him before running a hand down his face, looking exhausted.

Ginny, who looked completely unscathed, stood up from where she had been sitting and made her way into the kitchen.

"It sounds as if you did the best thing then." She said honestly, setting the kettle to boil. "Anyone want a cup of tea?"

"Yes." Everyone answered in unison

"What did that patronus say?" Ron asked, suddenly remembering it and started getting out some mugs, before inspecting Ginny more closely for any injuries.

"It explained how the Death Eaters had infiltrated the ministry and were coming." Fred said, rubbing herbal salve onto the few cuts and bruises he had on his skin.

"Was that it? Nothing about why?" Hermione questioned, walking over to help Molly with the dishes.

"No, they probably didn't have time." Arthur answered yawning.

"Where were you two if you didn't see it?" Ginny asked, a playful smile on her lips, glancing between Ron and Hermione. The two of them looked at one another, unable to prevent their blushing as Ron rubbed the back of his neck and Hermione chewed on her lip.

"We – we were, we were just -" Hermione started, and Molly looked at her expectantly. Luckily, the kettle had boiled so she didn't have to answer.

Once everyone was settled in the living room with their drinks, they discussed every plausible reason as to why the Death Eaters would have chosen to attack. While none of them wanted to admit it, it did seem that Ron was the only explanation for it but, for Hermione, that arose the question of why hadn't they attacked before? Had they only just learnt about his survival or had there been a more specific reason for them to do it at the wedding? She couldn't bare to think about it so she chose to look positively on the situation and was thankful that he was with her, alive and unharmed.

After an hour or so of fairly pointless debating, they had come no closer to a conclusion and had to accept that they probably never would and mutually agreed that it was time for bed.

Hermione had just got out of the bathroom from brushing her teeth when she nearly bumped into George, making her jump.

"Oh sorry, I didn't know anyone else was out here." She apologised, about to move out of the way.  
>"It's all right, I was actually looking for you, do you mind if I quickly talk to you?" He asked, making her eyebrows shoot up.<p>

"No, not at all but wouldn't you rather do it somewhere other than the bathroom?" She suggested, and he sniggered, backing her up into the room.

"Trust me, in this house this is the only private place we'll find." He said, closing the door behind him.

"Okay," She said, still sounding apprehensive but didn't question it, "So – what did you want to talk about?"

"Well, you know about earlier – it was really great what you did and we all appreciate it." He said gratefully, looking a little uncomfortable from the seriousness of the situation.

"Oh, well, it was no problem. I was acting on impulse really." She replied honestly.

"But still, that might be the reason he's still here and...yeah, you know what I mean." George said awkwardly, not wanting to say on that topic too long. He instead quickly moved on, "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about him. Well - you and him to be more specific."

Her eyes went wide and a feeling of dread overcame her. This was it. She knew it had to come eventually. No doubt he would say that he didn't want them to become a couple and that as soon as the school year began he would be happy to never see her again.

"I just wanted to let you know that's okay, if you wanted to get together or something." He disclosed, a warm smile on his face. She had to blink several times and run what he said through her head repeatedly before believing what he said. Even then, she still couldn't believe it on some level.

"Sorry?" She said, her face masking one of complete disbelief.

"Come on, it's obvious you both want to jump the other whenever you're in the same room." George said, chuckling lightly, fidgeting a little. She furrowed her eyebrows, wondering if he was joking or not. She struggled to find the difference sometimes.

"But – I mean – are you serious?" She questioned in an unusually high pitched tone.

"Yep. I guess it'd be a little weird but I'm not that bothered about it. Ginny actually spoke to me about it and made me realise you wouldn't do anything until I told you I'd be comfortable with it so here I am." He said truthfully, laughing at her gobsmacked expression.

"Really?" She asked, trying not to sound too hopeful and failing.

"Yeah, you and me that was well, looking back on it, it wasn't really ever that..serious. It was just a mess and I don't know, it already feels so long ago. All I want is for you both to be happy and if that means you want to be together then that's fine with me." George explained, doing his best not to make an inappropriate joke.

She was speechless, she never expected him to be so accepting towards her.

"Obviously I don't want to see you both sucking eachother's faces all the time but you know, go for it." He said, needing to break the silence.

"Are you positive-" She started, and he groaned, unsure as to why she was so determined not to believe what he was saying.

"Merlin, Hermione, can't you just accept what I'm telling you and go do whatever the hell it is you want? You don't have to do everything for other people all the time you know." He said lightly, opening the door and that seemed to be what made her accept what he was saying to her.

"Thankyou." She said, that being the only word that came to her mind. He shrugged his shoulders in response and left her.

It took her awhile to fully comprehend what the conversation meant. It seemed like something from her dreams rather than her real life. Things like this just didn't happen to her.

She ran a hand through her hair, exhaling slowly, before happiness finally took over. She beamed to herself, resisting the urge to let out a noise of elation, and walked out of the bathroom into Ginny's bedroom, telling herself that tomorrow (or later that day to be exact) she would explain to Ron how George felt, and they'd hopefully be able to start a relationship. She couldn't see any problem with it, after all, he had told her he had feelings for her, and what had mainly been stopping them from becoming a couple had turned out to not be an issue, so there was nothing standing in their way, right?

* * *

><p>The next morning, Hermione woke up later than usual but, considering how late it had been when she'd fallen asleep, she thought nothing of it. What did concern her was when she turned over in her bed to see that Ginny's bed was empty. She sat up, looking around the room for her and she guessed as the door was open that she was downstairs. She yawned and slowly got up, heading down to the kitchen. Her eyebrows shot up at the sight of everyone already awake, sat around the table, all of them sharing the same solemn expression.<p>

"What happened?" She asked abruptly, immediately feeling wide awake. Everyone turned their attention towards her and a nervous coil formed in her stomach at the pity in everyone's gaze. Well, nearly everyone's. The one person who she was most concerned about looked as if he was about to be sick while also somehow looking furious.

She took a few more steps towards them before her eyes landed on the Daily Prophet which was spread out on a specific page. She'd only read the headline when her heart sank into her stomach.

_The Muggle Born Register_

She shakily picked up the newspaper and started reading,

'_The Ministry of Magic is undertaking a survey of so-called 'Muggle Borns', the better to understand how they came to possess their magical secrets._

_ Recent research undertaken by the Department of Mysteries reveals that magic can only be passed from person to person when wizards reproduce. Where no proven wizarding ancestry exists, therefore, the so-called Muggle-born is likely to have obtained magical power by theft or by force._

_ The Ministry is determined to root out such usurpers of magical power, and to this end has issued an invitation to every so-called Muggle-born to present themselves for interview by the newly appointed Muggle-born Registration Commission.'_

She let out a long sigh as she placed it back on the table. She'd expected something like this would happen but she didn't think it would have been so quickly. Could it have been to do with the fact they didn't find her at the wedding last night? Was this all a grande ploy to actually get to her? Or was it simply the beginning of oppressing muggleborns? Truthfully, she didn't want to think about what it could all mean, what she wanted to do was figure out how she could avoid it.

No-one knew what to say. What could you say in a situation like this one? It was deathly silent in the room as her eyes met Ron's from across the room. She could see a deep concern within them and it was as if he was silently telling her that he'd be damned if anything happened to her.

"One thing's for certain, there's not a chance you'll be going to it. They won't even think to interview you if you take one step in that building, I wouldn't put it past them to take you straight to You Know Who." Arthur said, pushing his glasses up his nose. Hermione nodded, a slight blush rising in her cheeks as she tore her eyes away from Ron.

"Of course not, we'll figure something out." Molly agreed, collecting up the dishes on the table.

"Can't we convince them you're a part of our family? We could teach you our family tree if they ask you questions. We could say you're a distant cousin or something. I won't let them get to you - we won't." Ron said fiercely, making a small smile spread across Hermione's face. She had to suppress the urge to rush over and take his hand in hers.

Arthur took a sip of his tea and shook his head grimly.

"I'm afraid Hermione's too well-known for that to ever work." He replied in an apologetic tone.

"What about going into hiding?" Hermione asked, not really liking the option but felt she had to suggest it. Arthur thought over it for a minute before shaking his head again.

"That would be pointless. You Know Who's taken over too much now, it wouldn't take a lot for him to find you if you remained in one place. No-one's safe now, you saw last night how easily he got through those protective enchantments we had set-up around the house." Arthur answered, and Hermione chewed on her lip, as she started running out of ideas.

"What about going on the run?" Ginny suggested half-heartedly.

"Absolutely not! That's far too dangerous, especially if she was on her own." Molly snapped, and Hermione felt a rush of gratitude towards her from how much she cared. It wasn't long ago that she could barely stand the sight of her.

"Also I suspect lots of other muggleborns will be doing the same thing, so no doubt there'll be people searching for them." Arthur said, and Hermione had to agree. She chewed on her lip until another possible solution came to her mind.

"What about a disguise then? Or maybe taking on someone's identity?"

Arthur blinked several times before looking at Hermione and smiled.

"Now that might actually work." He said enthusiastically, and Hermione grinned, as did everyone else. Everyone except Molly that was.

"Oh Arthur, be rational!" She said heatedly.

"I am! Think about it, we have plenty of time to come up with a way of doing it before the school year starts and if we chose the right person, it could make her far safer than going into hiding ever could." He explained briefly, raising everyones' hopes.

"Yes but that's the problem! How are you ever going to find anyone who'd be willing to do that?" Molly retorted, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"You'd be surprised at the amount of people who've decided they don't want anything to do with You Know Who anymore. Kingsley told me there's a fair few families that have been looking for certain kinds of protection and what better kind of protection then that? Especially since You Know Who's now made attendance at Hogwarts compulsory, if it still appeared that their child was going to school, there'd be no reason for him to suspect that they'd turned against him." Arthur defended, sounding more enthusiastic about the idea with every second that passed.

"I don't know." Molly said hesitantly, not liking how risky it all was. There was just so much that could go wrong with it.

"Look, I know it's a long shot but it might just work. I need to be getting to work now anyway so I'll explain it to Kingsley and see what he thinks." He insisted, standing up hurriedly.

"But-"

Before Molly could say another word, Arthur was out of the door. She huffed in annoyance, abruptly turning back to the washing she'd been doing, leaving everyone else to contemplate on the idea. While Hermione was glad that they'd at least gotten somewhere, she couldn't help but be a little apprehensive about it. It all depended on the reliance of other people, not to mention she would have to put her trust in them even if she didn't know them.

When Arthur returned at dinner, he said that Kingsley was on board with the idea and would try and find the best person who would fit the position, bringing a little reassurance to Hermione. Not wanting to dwell on the subject too long, mainly due to Molly's dislike over it, they moved on to a more pleasant subject. Over the course of it though, Hermione caught Ron's eye several times, and everytime they looked hopeful but there was always an undertone of worry in them.

After dinner, Hermione had spent the rest of the evening looking through all her books for the best way of disguising herself. Naturally the thought of using glamour charms and the Polyjuice Potion had already entered her mind, but she just wanted to make sure if there were any simpler solutions. Her researching was interrupted however with someone knocking at the door. She hurried over to it, nearly stumbling over some books on the way, and opened it to see Ron. Her cheeks went a brilliant shade of pink at the sight of him in his Chudley Cannons pyjamas, mainly because they were too small so the t-shirt was stretched over his chest, leaving very little to the imagination as to what lay underneath. She had to force herself to quit staring at him there and reluctantly brought her eyes up to his face. She noticed how his ears had gone bright red at the sight of her too, and she quickly remembered how she was only wearing a tank top and shorts, due to how hot it had been recently. She crossed her arms in an attempt to cover herself up which seemed to bring him back to earth as he remembered why he was there.

"Uurr could I talk to you? Privately – in my room, I just don't want us to be interrupted." He said, and cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Of course, I just need to grab something." She answered, and threw on her dressing gown before following him up to his room.

It didn't take long for her to realise she'd never been in his room. As expected it was a complete mess, with various clothes and items thrown all over the place. The walls were painted in a vivid orange with several moving posters of the Chudley Cannons covering them. Essentially, it was exactly how she thought it would be. She didn't focus on it for too long as there were more pressing matters at hand so she looked over at him, now sat on his bed

Not knowing what she would do if she sat down on his bed with him, she chose to sit herself down on one of the cots in the room, which she assumed Fred or George had been sleeping in since the Delacour family had been staying.

Ron thought nothing of it as he propped his pillow up against the wall so he could sit facing her.

They sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes, as Ron began wondering whether what he was about to say was the best idea.

"I just – I was wondering whether you were really going to go through with this plan?" He asked eventually, which somehow disappointed her. The way he'd been fretting had made her believe there was a lot to what he wanted to say.

"Well, it's not exactly what I had in mind but it doesn't seem like there is a better idea so I guess it'll have to do." She replied simply, tucking her hair behind her ears as a way of distracting herself from this conversation.

"But there is! You could go into hiding, leave the wizarding world!" He retorted, abruptly moving himself to the edge of the bed. She chanced a glance at him and the amount of enthusiasm in his face about the idea made her ache. She swallowed, feeling as if her stomach was plummeting to the ground.

"You heard what your dad said earlier, hundreds of muggleborns will probably do the same thing and there's bound to be some people sent out to search them. And Vol-"

"Don't say his name! Dad just got a letter saying the name's jinxed – if anyone says it, Death Eaters come." Ron explained, and she frowned. She wanted to question him further about it but knew that this wasn't the right time to.

"Okay then – You Know Who is attacking the muggle world now as well." She finished.

"But what if you leave the country? Surely that's safer! I'll go with you too, we could go to a country where there's no wizards whatsoever." Ron said, now standing up, as if he was ready to pack his bags up and run away with her right at that second. She closed her eyes, not allowing herself to fantasise over the thought, and gave him a strict look.

"I can't, Ron, and we both know you can't either." She answered logically, and his face fell.

"Why? And I can go, I will if I have too." He insisted, taking a step closer to her, making it all the more tempting for her to do it. But she couldn't, more importantly, she wouldn't.

"I can't leave Harry here. I have to help him in any way I can, and I just can't do that somewhere else. And I know you don't want to leave your family."

She couldn't stand to look at him as she spoke, knowing how easily she would cave in to his suggestion if she did. She felt the bed sink next to her so she guessed he was sitting next to her.

"I'll deal with it somehow, please. Can't you just consider it?" He practically begged, and she shook her head.

"No, I won't." She said, tensing her body, sensing that his temper was rising.

He groaned and ran his hands through his hair frustratedly.

"Why are you being so unreasonable about this? You could die if they found you!" He snapped, and she whipped her head around, scowling at him.

"As could you or Ginny or your dad or anyone! And I am not being unreasonable!" She spat, resenting the accusation.

"But you're more of a target than anyone! And you fucking are! You're not willing to take a chance on something that will keep you safe!"

"I'll be just as safe with the plan we already have!"

"You won't be and you know that! Please – why can't you do this? I just want you to be safe. I don't want you to get hurt – I can't let you, I can't." He trailed off, unable to talk anymore and he ran his hands down his face. It felt as if his throat was closing up from the amount of emotion he was feeling.

Hermione's gaze instantly turned into sympathy as she understood why he was saying all of this. He didn't really believe he was capable of doing it at all, just like her, but he was willing to try for her. Her eyes shone with how much she adored him in that moment.

"I understand how you feel, Ron, but you have to understand I can't abandon Harry like that. And I know that you would regret abandoning your family like that too." She said softly, and he looked alarmed, as if he was sensing that he was losing the battle.

"I wouldn't-"

"You will, Ron. You know you will. You'd go mad with worry not knowing whether they were safe or not." She said, and he reluctantly had to accept that she was speaking the truth. He let out a long breath before looking over at her.

"I'm just really scared about anything happening to you." He stated, his tone full of concern, making her insides melt. She smiled at him reassuringly and placed her hand on top of his.

"I know, and I'm scared too." She said honestly, and he gripped onto her hand, turning his body towards her.

"I won't let anything happen to you." He said passionately, staring so far into her eyes that it felt as if he was looking at her very soul. She swallowed, overwhelmed by the intensity, and noticed his eyes flicker down to her lips before shooting back towards her eyes. Before she could even comprehend what he was doing, he had dove forwards and placed his lips on hers. Her eyebrows shot up but she didn't question what he was doing at all, as she instantly responded. She ran her hand to his neck, closing her eyes, and felt his hand wind around to her back.

It was a soft, tender kiss, reassuring her that he'd always be there for her. It wasn't meant to be anything grande, it was meant to be a simple thing. But it felt like so much more. It felt as if she was loved.

He pulled away after only a couple of seconds though, as if he suddenly regretted it.

"Sorry." He said with a dry throat, looking away from her.

"Don't be." She replied, and his gaze shot towards her. He looked reluctant to believe her so she continued, "I meant what I said last night."

He gathered she was referring to when they told eachother how they really felt and he smiled lopsidedly. She returned it and he had to force himself not to kiss her again. They'd never really had a chance to finish that conversation, so what was the harm in having it now?

"So...what now?" He asked, looking down at their entwined hands.

"Well, I-I'd like it if we maybe became something." She said cautiously, unconciously doing the same as him. She watched as he traced his calloused fingertips over her skin, sending pleasurable shivers up her spine.

"Good 'cause I'd like that too." He replied, the edges of his lips curving upwards. He stopped his minstrations only to have her do the same to him.

"Good." Her fingers were soft against his rough skin, so much so that they sent sparks of electricity through him. He swallowed, trying to ignore his increasing pulse rate.

"What about _you know_? All the things that were stopping us."

"Earlier, he said that he'd be all right with it." They both simultaneously looked at one another rather than their hands and she slowly stopped stroking the back of his palm.

"Oh... wow, okay. What about the other reasons though?" He asked, praying he hadn't just accidentally reminded her of them. She chewed the inside of her lip as she tried to think of a decent explanation, but there simply wasn't one, so she instead shrugged her shoulders.

"They all seem a bit irrelevant now, don't they?" She said hopefully, and he smiled in relief.

"Yeah."

They sat in silence for awhile, both letting the information sink in of what this conversation meant. Ron unintentionally started stroking her skin again, causing her to suck in a sharp breath. He really had no idea about the effect he had on her, did he? She moistened her lips, pressing her legs together in an attempt to relieve some of the friction she desired there. She looked over at him to see he had been staring at her the whole time.

A small blush rose in her cheeks as she realised that now they were holding eachother's hand as something else. They weren't friends anymore. They were more then that. She guessed the technical term would be 'boyfriend and girlfriend' but that didn't seem a valid way of describing them. It just didn't feel right, it somehow felt as if they were past that. Because they both knew if they were going to do this, it wasn't going to be some kind of fling that would be short-lived. No, this would be something far more permanent. What they were getting into, it felt like it was life altering.

"So - we're doing this then. You and me." He said, just wanting to make absolutely sure they were both on the same page.

"I guess so." She said beaming. He chuckled in disbelief, which in turn made her laugh too. It quickly died down though as something occurred to him.

"Hermione," He said softly, and she wondered whether she'd ever liked the sound of her name more than she did when he said it, "do you – I mean," he let out a frustrated sigh, "this is going to make me sound like a prick."

"What is it?" She asked concerned, running her thumb over the back of his palm.

"Would you mind if we maybe didn't tell anyone yet? Just with everything going on, and I know everyone will over react about it and I can't deal with that now." He said hurriedly, hating himself for saying it. Her happiness started dissolving and it showed on her face.

"Are you sure it would really be that much of an issue?"

"Have you met my mother?" He said sarcastically, trying to lighten the mood. She took her hand out of his, incapable of making a decision with that distraction, oblivious to how he tried to grab hold of hers again.

"I don't know, if it's really going to be a problem then maybe we shouldn't-"

"Don't say that." He interrupted. "I will tell them, I promise."

"I don't doubt that, but I wouldn't want to come between you and your family." She said simply, wondering why she'd never thought of it before. She'd sort of assumed that as long as George was fine with them being together than the rest of the family would. She already knew Ginny was okay with it and she'd guessed that Fred would have the same opinion as George about it. She'd never thought about Molly or Arthur or the rest of Ron's brothers.

Her thoughts from before swam back into her mind. Yes, what they were getting into was life altering, and therefore it would naturally effect everyone around them too.

"You won't, it's just – well, it's mainly for mum's sake. It's not that she doesn't like you or anything, because she does. She just won't understand yet. And I know my family and they can't keep a secret if their lives depended on it. It's just easier this way." Ron tried to explain, rubbing the back of his neck, knowing what he was saying wasn't convincing her.

"Shouldn't we wait then? It doesn't feel right to be sneaking around behind their backs." The last thing she wanted was for Molly to start hating her again.

"I'm sick of waiting though!" Ron exclaimed, something inside of him breaking. Her gaze shot towards him and she felt overwhelmed by the fervid look in his eyes as he continued, "All my life I've been waiting for something better. I never really thought it would but I still hoped for...I don't know, just something that would make me feel like it was worth living."

He paused to take a breath, trying to work out how he could describe what he was feeling. He always knew he never had much of a way with words. He usually spoke better through actions, which was why he'd wound up kissing her before, but he had to get this out. He wasn't going to lose her.

"It's hard to explain 'cause I'm not really sure when it happened, probably when we met if I'm honest but, I've always felt...always felt something for you, I reckon. And I did my time, I waited for you as well, for months and I know that makes me sound like a selfish prat since you were with my brother for some of that time, and I really fucking hated myself for it, and I still do a bit, but – I've never had what I wanted. And now I can, and I just can't wait for it any longer. Without knowing what could happen to either one of us, I can't wait for you anymore. We both want this now, so why should we hold off on something that will only benefit other people?"

Hermione was speechless when Ron finished. She'd had absolutely no idea that he had felt that way, and for so long too. She couldn't help but think back on those few months where they both had been single, both pining for the other without knowing it, and wondered how they could have spent all that time actually together. It did sadden her, thinking of all that time they wasted, and it hit her how much she actually agreed with what he was saying. Why was she so worried about pleasing other people all the time? Why couldn't she just seize what she wanted and be damned with the consequences of it? It was that thought which stayed in her mind as she said,

"Okay."

"Okay?" He questioned, and she nodded.

"Okay. Let's do this." She said enthusiastically, and he blinked slowly.

"So - you don't mind not telling anyone yet?"

"Nope." She replied simply, and he frowned at her, not sure if he'd ever heard her say that.

"Really?" He said in disbelief, and she rolled her eyes.

"Yes - all right. I don't care about anyone else. I want to be with you and if that means we have to keep it quiet for a few weeks then that's fine."

He looked at her astounded and remained that way until she smiled at him hopefully. It seemed to jog his mind that she was essentially saying she was fine with it, and he grinned at her. He couldn't hold himself back a moment longer and pulled her into another kiss.

She briefly wondered if she'd ever get used to the swooping sensation that would happen in her stomach everytime he kissed her but she didn't particularly care as all she could focus on was how elated she felt.

She twisted her upper body so she was able to wrap her arms around his neck while his did the same to her waist. This altered the kiss immediately. It shifted it into one of complete desire.

She couldn't believe there was a time where she'd almost forgotten how it felt to kiss him. It was just nothing other than fantastic with the way his lips ravished hers, making her pull on the ends of his hair as she edged closer. It was intoxicating, causing her to feel so undeniably happy with how he was pulling her in. Her heart was pounding so hard that she was sure he could feel it. They were kissing so deeply and heavily that she could barely breathe. Her body was aching with her need for him. It was all too much. It was too intense.

She slowly pulled away, keeping her arms around him and opened her eyes to see he was already looking directly at her. She swallowed and gave herself a few seconds to catch her breath.

"Okay, I should probably go." She announced, moving herself out of his arms but his hand ran down one of hers to grab hold of her hand.

"Stay." He said pleadingly, making it horribly tempting for her to do just that.

"I can't."

"Why?" He whined, and she bit her lip, not sure if she was confident enough to give the real reason. The truth was that she didn't know how to control herself around him. Now there were no boundaries between them, which was brilliant but it also meant they could do whatever they wanted. And her reaction to him as they kissed scared her a little with how strongly her body responded to him. If she hadn't stopped when she did, she didn't think they would have ever stopped.

"Because it's getting on for two in the morning." She said laughing lightly. "And I'm pretty sure Ginny's wondering why I haven't gone to bed yet."

His smile faltered a little, which did the same to hers.

"Suppose you're right." He admitted, and let go of her hand. She deliberated with herself before she leant down and kissed him softly. She pulled away and looked at him straight in the eyes.

"You know I want to stay, but the truth is I can't trust myself around you." She stated, and he grinned, his eyes gleaming. "Don't get any ideas."

"I wasn't." He said innocently, and she didn't believe him for one second. She pecked his lips again and straightened up.

"See you in the morning." She said, unable to stop herself from smiling.

"See you." He replied, and she left his room. As she closed the door behind her, it felt as if the world was just a little bit brighter around her, because now, she was beginning to realise how good life could be, now that she was with him.

* * *

><p><strong>A:N *throws confetti***

**I've decided to start putting a little tease at the end of every chapter now for what's to come. Anne Mary Ellen suggested it and I thought, why not? It'll mainly be mindless fun segments, but I might throw in the odd serious moment here and there :P**

_Tease for the next chapter:_

_ "Morning dear, you're certainly in a good mood." Molly commented, putting on some more bacon and sausages for Ron. He shrugged his shoulders and sat down at the table opposite Hermione._

_ "Yeah, don't know why." He said, looking directly at Hermione._


	27. Chapter 27

**Link to song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=l28Ksllbn48**

**Copy, paste and replace the closed brackets with fullstops.**

* * *

><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 27

Secrets and Solutions

"_I can love,_

_But I need his heart,_

_I am strong even on my own,_

_But from him I never want to part."_

_Gabriel – Lamb_

The next morning, Hermione awoke with the biggest smile on her face. It barely took a mili-second for her to remember the events of the previous night, filling her body with a warmth that she'd never felt before. Not wanting to waste a single second, she abruptly stood up and got changed, before hurrying downstairs like a child at Christmas. Once she was downstairs though, it looked as if she'd discovered there were no presents under the tree at all. She tried not to feel disappointed that he wasn't already awake but as she remembered how late he usually slept in, she did her best to think nothing of it.

"Oh hello Hermione, do you want some scrabbled eggs?" Molly commented, just starting breakfast for everyone.

"Yes, thank you Mrs Weasley." She answered, sitting down to glance at the prophet. After flicking through a few pages, she couldn't stand to read it much longer. Virtually everything was focussing on gaining supporters for Voldemort while trying to decrease Harry's popularity. Of course, the attack on the Burrow wasn't mentioned, in fact no attacks were mentioned. It didn't even say that Scrimgeour was dead, only that Thicknesse was now prime minister.

Hermione couldn't understand why Voldemort had appointed someone like him, she would have guessed it would be someone like Lucius Malfoy, who would undoubtedly obey his orders without a second thought. Why would he have Thicknesse? She didn't know an awful lot about him but he seemed to be a grounded person. She doubted he would follow Voldemort's orders willingly, so it seemed plausible that he could be imperiused.

"Here you go." Molly said, a little too cheerily as she placed the plate in front of her. Hermione blinked a few times, surprised at the large amount there was, but didn't question it and dug in. A glass of pumpkin juice was then handed to her and before she could even swallow, some buttered toast had also appeared.

"Thank you, Mrs Weasley. This is delicious." Hermione said honestly, and Molly beamed at her.

"Do you want anything else dear? It'd be no trouble at all for me to cook some bacon and sausages too." Molly offered, already getting the food out.

"Oh no, this is more than enough-"

"Nonsense, you're far too skinny anyway, always said you could do with eating more." Molly insisted, and Hermione thought it best to accept the offer rather than try to refuse her again.

Hermione took a sip of her pumpkin juice and continued eating, not having to wait long until she heard someone walking down the stairs. She told herself not to get her hopes up which did absolutely nothing since her heart rate picked up and it took all of her self-control not to look over to see who it was.

"Morning mum." Ron greeted yawning, strolling into the room. Shivers crept up Hermione's spine and he came into her view. He smiled sheepishly at her, as if he didn't know how to act around her now. She grinned at him, unable to hold anything back from being so happy. His ears turned pink at the sight and his smile widened, doing the same as her now.

In his exuberant state, he gave Molly a quick peck on the cheek and poured out some juice for himself. She looked at him surprised but didn't question the unusual greeting and smiled at him.

"Morning dear, you're certainly in a good mood." She commented, putting on some more bacon and sausages for him. He shrugged his shoulders and sat down at the table opposite Hermione.

"Yeah, don't know why." He said, looking directly at Hermione. She flushed, trying to hide her smile but he noticed it anyway which succeeded in making him happier than he already was. She took a sip of her drink, trying to look away from him and failing. It was as if he could sense her inner struggle since he grinned even more.

"Well, it's nice to see you smiling." Molly said, ruffling his hair affectionately before kissing the top of his head. His ears turned beetroot red and Hermione couldn't help but laugh a little at the sight of him so embarassed. Molly quickly went back to her cooking and once Ron's embarassment died down, he turned his attention back to Hermione,

"So how'd you sleep Hermione?" He asked suggestively, making her stomach flip with the way he was looking at her. She thought over the night which actually had very little sleep involved on her part. She thought of the way his skin felt beneath her fingertips. How it felt to be wrapped in his arms so tightly. How his lips brushed against hers.

"Oh, fine. It was a bit too hot though." She replied casually, doing her best to keep her composure steady, knowing Molly would suspect something if she started laughing.

Ron's eyebrows shot up but it didn't take long for him to catch on.

"Yeah, had the same problem myself." He admitted, and she had to bite her lip to stop herself from chuckling. She noticed his eyes darted down to her lips because of it and the smile slowly slipped off his face as his gaze grew more intense. She wasn't sure why she noticed it then, for all she knew it happened everytime she bit her lip and she'd simply been too in denial over his feelings for her that she remained oblivious.

The tension was broken as Molly handed Ron his breakfast and added more to Hermione's. What happened next was odd for Hermione. Molly then leant down and pecked the top of her head, just like she'd done with Ron. Hermione blinked a few times, perplexed by the action, having not recieved any sort of affection from Molly since she stayed, and looked up at the older woman. She smiled at her and ran her hand over the back of Hermione's head.

"Thank you." She said softly, before hastily turning around and disappeared upstairs. Hermione frowned and looked at Ron confused. He didn't seem to think anything of it as he was digging into his breakfast.

"That was odd." Hermione said, and he looked at her.

"Wha?" He asked with his mouthful.

"Your mum just thanked me, but I don't know why." She pointed out, looking back at Ron.

Ron shrugged his shoulders, swallowing painfully.

"Maybe she's in a good mood too or something." He said, thinking nothing of what he said until it dawned on him what that could mean, especially if it were for similar reasons as to why he was happy. And knowing his mum and dad would need much more than some snogging to be in such a good mood the next day...

Hermione couldn't stifle her laughter a moment longer, and the expression of disgust on his face was more than she could take. This only caused Ron to groan as he tried to rid his mind of the images of his mum and dad being, well...intimate.

"To be fair, that might be why. There's only one way you can wind up with seven kids so they must have plenty of practice." She teased, still laughing and he mockingly glared at her.

"Just forget I said it." He said, and she smiled, but did as he wanted. Only a second or two had passed before he realised something else; how very alone they were. "Come on."

He hastily stood up and walked towards her, taking her hand in his. She barely had enough time to place her knife and fork down since he was pulling her up, heading outside.

"Ron, what are you doing – where are we going?" She asked, but he didn't answer her as he walked around the edge of the house until they rounded a corner. He abruptly turned around and pulled her towards him before his lips descended on hers. If she hadn't been in such a romanticized state she would have probably rolled her eyes but all cohesive thoughts were pushed out of her brain whenever he kissed her. Her arms wrapped around his neck at their own accord as she went on her toes so he wouldn't have to crane his neck down so much. She felt his hands glide over her back and his arms slid around her waist.

He broke it after a few moments and said,

"I've been waiting to do that all morning." His hands were running all over her and it was incredibly distracting since it caused every one of her senses to come alive.

"All morning? Couldn't have been that long since you got up." She glided her hands up into his hair, staring into his eyes.

"Ruddy felt like it, especially with your teasing." His hands stopped moving on her waist, pulling her closer to him.

"As if you weren't asking for it." She smiled at him cheekily, lightly scratching the back of his scalp.

"I don't think I was."

"Ha! 'So how was your morning?' What kind of a response were you expecting?"

"Fine, you win. Can we get back to what we were doing?"

"You certainly are impatient this morning."

"Can't help it. Anyway, we have to make the best of the time we have now, don't we?"

"And we can only do that by kissing?"

"No, but that's the one thing we can't do around the others."

"I suppose you do make a good point." She gave in, not in the least bit regretting it as they kissed again.

It should have been odd how quickly they had moved from being shy and cautious around eachother to this new confident, flirty way of being, but it wasn't. It felt natural because, while they had been incredibly open with one another before, there had still been that wall between them where they couldn't go beyond for fear of rejection. But now that wall had fallen and they were completely free to give themselves entirely to the other.

She smiled against his lips as they gave eachother small quick kisses before simply taking pleasure in holding eachother. It was with reluctance that they both had to accept that they should go back inside, not wanting anyone to ask questions.

* * *

><p>A week passed where they followed this routine. They'd wake up fairly early, have breakfast in Molly's presence before going outside to the same spot, would spend the day with everyone else and then would go to sleep. Hermione had contemplated every night on going up to his room to spend just that little more time together but she knew she couldn't. That one night she had, had been too much. It was like she had thought that night, it had been too intense and she couldn't trust herself around him. It had taken all of her self control to pull away from him that night and she didn't think she'd have the strength to do it again – so she remained in Ginny's room until dawn broke.<p>

This routine was put to a stop one night at dinner though, when Arthur walked in with a smile on his face, a rare sight those days.

"Good news, Hermione!" He exclaimed, taking off his coat and hung it up, before making his way over to the table. "We think we might have found you someone to disguise yourself as."

The entire table fell silent as Hermione's eyebrows shot up and she swallowed her food while Arthur sat himself down.

"Really? Who?" She asked in a high pitched voice, mainly out of shock. She'd almost forgotten about the plan they'd developed since she'd been in such a state of happiness from the blissful week that had past. Her eyes instinctively searched for Ron's, who was sat opposite her but all of his attention was focussed on his dad.

"Daphne Greengrass, she's a seventh year Slytherin." Arthur answered, spooning out some pie and mashed potato onto his plate.

"Why'd she agree to it?" Ron asked, not bothering to eat anymore. Arthur pushed his glasses up his nose and ate a mouthful of food before answering,

"Well, the instant family aren't exactly linked with You Know Who, but some distant relatives are and the parents just don't want their children to be involved in the war at all, so they're trying to send them out of the country to live with their grandparents. They think if the distant relatives find out, they wouldn't hesitant in hurting them in some way so they want to make it appear as if the children are still around, which is why they agreed to let Hermione impersonate Daphne."

"Okay, so what are the parents doing?" Ron questioned, taking the words out of Hermione's mouth. Everyone was starting to notice the level of interest Ron had in the plan. While Ginny, Fred and George exchanged knowing looks, Molly looked slightly confused by it and Arthur eyed Ron curiously, a trace of a bemused smile on his features.

"Staying here, keeping up the facade that they support You Know Who but don't actively do anything to show this support." He explained briefly.

"What about their other children? Are other muggleborns doing the same as me?" Hermione intervened, just in time as Ron opened his mouth. His gaze shot towards her and she gave him an appreciative smile, flattered that he was so concerned.

"No, they only have one other child a couple of years younger, and we're not sure what to do yet – but it's most likely they'll disguise someone or something as her and make it seem as if she has an illness which makes it impossible for her to go to school." Arthur said, oblivious to the exchange between the two.

"How are we going to do this then?" Molly asked, surprising everyone by taking an interest. Even Arthur couldn't hide his shock but when he caught the stern look she shot him because of it, he hurriedly continued explaining,

"Me and Kingsley both talked it over and the only way we can see it working is by using polyjuice potion. There should be enough time for us to produce enough for you to last until the winter holidays when you'll come back here – or would appear to go back to the Greengrass's house ."

"But what about when I transform back into me? I can't exactly take it at night and someone in the dormitory would inevitably find out." Hermione asked, having really hoped she wouldn't have to resort to using it. Her last and only experience of using polyjuice potion in her second year had obviously put her off it immensely.

"That's what's brilliant about the fact it's Daphne Greengrass. She's been made head girl and in the letter that was sent, it entailed that she has her own bedroom." Arthur disclosed enthusiastically. Hermione's eyebrows shot up from that news. Not so much about her having her own bedroom, but because she'd been made headgirl. It was no secret Hermione had always wanted the position and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't hurt from it. It made sense that she wouldn't have been chosen though, given she wasn't even supposed to be at Hogwarts next year with the Muggleborn registration. Surely there would have been another more deserving person for the job though? Although, Hermione didn't know an awful lot about Daphne, since she wasn't in any of her classes so for all she knew, Daphne could have the best grades in her classes.

"I think Bill mentioned he got that when he was head boy too." Ginny said, wanting to be of some use in the conversation, breaking Hermione's train of thought.

"Oh yeah, cause he kept on saying to us how much easier it was to get girl-" Fred started, but saw the look his mother was giving him and promptly shut up.

"Anyway, it's still where all the other Slytherins sleep which is a slight complication, but if you put a few locking charms on your door then I don't see why anyone should know the difference." Arthur said, deliberately ignoring Fred's comment.

"What about their family history and everything? I'm going to have to know some basic knowledge about-" Hermione started, beginning to feel anxious about the plan. It was becoming more official by the second, and while it had seemed like a good idea, she was starting to see the flaws in it like Molly had initally.

"That's all been arranged. We'll meet them, you and I that is (we can put a few glamour charms on you so you won't be recognised), first thing tomorrow at the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade and they'll give us all we need, like documents to prove your identity, their basic family history and details on how Daphne is as a person, how you should interact with other people etc."

There was a moment where everyone thought no more questions needed to be asked until Ron spoke up one last time,

"How can we trust them?"

"They took Veritaserum."

Hermione took a breath as she let the news sink in. They were really going through with it. She was going to have to take on someone's identity. She wouldn't be able to be herself. She'd essentially have to become a new person and forget about herself. It would take a lot of work for her to be able to pull it off and if she failed, her life could be at risk.

Everyone had started eating again but she was no longer hungry so she simply played around with her food. The whole time she felt as if someone's eyes were on her but she didn't dare look up, knowing he would be able to read her expression in a moment.

* * *

><p>After dinner, she headed upto Ginny's room, feeling as if she was finally returning back to reality. The past week had been like a dream but now it was as if the darkness had to return into her life. Her happiness had to be tampered with, she couldn't ever just <em>be<em> happy. There had to be something to remind her of that.

She wasn't sure how but her feet seemed to have a mind of her own as she was making her way upto Ron's room, instead of Ginny's, and was knocking on his door. All she knew was that she wanted to talk to him.

He opened it instantly and pulled her inside by her hand, quickly closing the door behind her. He faced her and leant down so they were at the same eye level and tucked her hair behind her ears.

"You okay?" He asked, his voice full of concern, now softly stroking her cheek. She bit her lip wondering how to answer for a second. She gazed up into his eyes that were searching hers desperately.

"I'm scared." She admitted, her voice trembling a little. His arms were around her in an instant and she wrapped hers around him, her fingers digging into his back as she buried her head into his chest. She breathed him in which helped calm her but the thoughts were still swirling around in her mind and she knew the second she let go of him she would still be afraid.

"What are you scared about?" He asked gently, and she adjusted herself in his arms so he could hear her.

"Everything. Mainly this plan for me to become this girl. What's going to happen if it doesn't work? What if I make a mistake? I could end up dead if that happens." She said fearfully, and his hold tightened around her.

"Don't say that." He muttered quietly.

"Why? It's the truth. What would happen to me if I took the potion a little too late and I change back into me again? I'd be caught, probably interrogated for Harry's whereabouts. When I refuse to give them any information – what will they do? They'll-"

"Don't, just don't say it." He pleaded, and she frowned, not noticing the strain in his voice.

"Why not? You know what I'm trying to say, so what difference does it make if I say it out loud?" She asked, pulling away enough to look up at his face. She was surprised to see he looked as if he was in a great deal of pain, since his entire face was tensed and his eyes were scrunched up. He hesitantly opened them and she felt as if she'd been stabbed with how his eyes reflected his anguish.

"It just...it just makes it more real, you know?"

She nodded, understanding completely and rested her head back on his chest, relishing in the warmth it created inside of her. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh, voicing what she was thinking,

"This whole week's been a bit unreal. I'd virtually forgotten about everything that was happening. I've just been so happy that nothing else has really mattered – but then tonight, it brought it all back and it's almost made me feel guilty for it."

"You shouldn't feel that way." He stated strongly, and a soft smile lifted her features at his determination in making her feel better, but it slowly fell as more guilt flowed through her from it.

"I can't help it though. I mean - Harry's on this life and death mission, my parents don't even know I exist, even Lavender's missing, and I was completely content despite that. I don't think I've ever been so selfish before with my happiness." She confessed, and felt him run his hand up and down her back soothingly.

"But, maybe that's a good thing. At least you'll be able to look back on this week where you were happy and just gain from it. If – if we're ever in a dangerous situation, at least we'll be able to remember this week and how happy we were, right?" He replied, hoping that would be enough to convince her but somehow knew it wouldn't be.

"I guess." She said, wanting to believe it would be enough to make the guilt go away but couldn't. It just kept gnawing away at her.

"You shouldn't feel guilty about being happy, Hermione. You deserve it more than anyone."

While she didn't necessarily agree with what he was saying, she had to admit he did have a point. Why was she feeling this way? She wouldn't take back a second of what they'd done so why was she trying to find a fault with it and force herself to regret it?

She didn't know what to say so she went on her toes and kissed him softly, trying to show how much he meant to her in that moment. He responded instantly as she put everything into that kiss. She wanted him to know how she truly appreciated him and everything he was doing for her or had ever done for her.

She pressed herself against him, pulling his bottom lip between hers and sucked on it lightly, making him lean down more. She slid her arms to his front so she could clench onto his shirt as she parted his mouth with her tongue, her heart racing in anticipation. He wound his arm around her waist so he could pull her up against him even more as his other hand went to the back of her neck. She tried going on her toes more, getting to the point where it was impossible for her to do it anymore without breaking one, and almost let out a noise of frustration.

She was getting increasingly annoyed with their position. At least in their outside hideaway they had a wall which helped, but their difference in height did make it awkward for them to have a decent snog without being uncomfortable at all.

It seemed as if he was feeling the same way too since he started moving them to his bed. If she'd been in her right mind, she probably wouldn't have gone along with it but, as she wasn't, she complied. She felt the back of her knees hit it and she slowly sat herself down, not wanting to break the kiss for a second, then he did the same next to her.

Now that they were at a much more even level, they didn't waste any time in taking advantage of it. She delved her tongue into his mouth, letting out a moan of pure pleasure at finally having the contact she desired, edging herself closer to him. Her top lifted a little because of it and his hands lowered so they were on the bare skin of her back. The sensation made a rush of heat flow throughout her and she involuntarily shivered, massaging his tongue with hers. His hands started gliding up her back underneath her top making her move even closer to him, the pulsing between her legs becoming unbearable.

It still wasn't enough though. She was as close to him as she could get without ending up in his lap and she was seriously tempted to do it. It wouldn't take much. She'd just have to move her leg a little and it'd be done. She knew it would bring her some of the relief she wanted and that thought excited her even more.

His fingertips pressed into her skin and she let out a moan, when he abruptly pulled away. She almost fell forward from the suddeness of it and she opened her eyes hazily, about to complain when she took in the sight of him out of breath and swollen lipped.

"This isn't too much for you, is it?" He asked breathlessly, and she swallowed, shaking her head. "Okay, good."

His lips were back on hers instantly and everything turned into a blur. She was so light-headed and was so caught up in what she was feeling that she barely noticed what they were actually doing since the next thing she knew they were lying down on his bed. The weight of him on top of her exhilirated her in a way she'd never experienced before. He was pressing into her in all of the right places and brought that much needed relief she needed – but with it came another all consuming desire. If it felt this good with them clothed, it didn't take much for her to wonder what it would be like without them. The mere thought of it sent a jolt of electricity down her stomach as she plunged her tongue into his mouth in a way which caused him to let out a deep gutteral moan as he pressed his hips into hers. She gasped from it which unintentionally broke their kiss and her eyes flashed open. His remained closed as he swallowed, trying to catch his breath. She pressed her lips together, suppressing a moan at the sight of him, and his eyes flickered open.

Despite how badly her body wanted to continue with what they were doing, a small part of her mind was saying that it wasn't the right time, that she would regret letting it continue.

"Maybe we should-" She started awkwardly, her cheeks flushing even more than they already were and he nodded.

"Yeah."

He rolled off her so they were lying side by side and she was surprised at how cold it suddenly felt. Goosebumps rose on her skin and let out a long sigh, her heart rate slowing along with another pulsating. She noticed out the corner of her eye that he ran a hand down his face so she tilted her head to the side. She could tell their was something on his mind since he was all tensed and it looked as if he was having a debate with himself.

"What is it?" She asked, and he looked at her, still resting his head on the pillow like her.

"It's just...ugh, maybe we should have talked about this before." He said honestly, hating himself for what he was thinking. She knitted her brows together in confusion and moved alittle closer to him.

"What?"

"I-I have to know before this goes any further, you and... you didn't, _you know_, did you?" He asked, his ears turning bright red and her eyes widened, realising what he was hinting at.

"No! Of course we didn't – we never, I mean, we barely did anything more than what we were just doing. If that!" She answered, turning onto her side completely and propped herself up on her elbow. He let out a sigh of relief but she couldn't help chewing on her lip, wondering why he had those thoughts in the first place.

"Right, good. That's a relief." He stated, now smiling

"Did you really think we had?" She asked, looking downcast at the cover on his bed.

"No, but I just had to make sure." He answered, hoping he hadn't just ruined something between them. She chewed her lip briefly again.

"I would have told you if we-"

"Yeah, I know. I wasn't doubting you or anything." He said, and she gazed into his eyes which only illuminated complete honesty.

"Okay."

The room filled with an unbearably awkward silence, and she started wondering whether the same applied to him. Maybe it did if he felt the need to ask her about it.

"Have you? With Lav-" She started, and he shook his head.

"No. That was mainly for show, we were never really alone enough. Not that I wanted too." He explained embarassed, moving his gaze all over the room.

Mentioning her name, Hermione couldn't help but be reminded of her current situation. Hermione bit her lip and glanced over at Ron, wondering how he was coping with it. After all she had been his girlfriend, it didn't matter whether she herself liked that or not, and she didn't think he could just stop caring about her.

"You know, we never really talked about, well, her being missing." Hermione said, distinctly remembering the one time she had brought it up when he was in the hospital wing for observation that he'd changed the subject. Not wanting to make him uncomfortable, she'd never brought it up again until now.

He sat himself up, and scratched the back of his neck, having to think about his response.

"I don't know. I'm worried about her. Fuckin' scared for her if I'm honest." He said shakily, and Hermione placed what she hoped was a reassuring hand on his arm as he continued, "I just hate the fact there's nothing I can do."

"I know. I'm scared about her too." She disclosed, not wanting to think about what the Death Eaters could have done to her. If the attack she suffered from Greyback was anything to go by, she couldn't bare to think of what Lavender could have gone through.

Hermione ran her hand up and down Ron's arm, feeling how he was still incredibly tensed.

"Makes me feel sick. She could be...dead for all we know and..." He trailed off, hanging his head low and made a fist.

"Is there anything I can do to help you?" She asked, and he brought his head up with misty eyes. He sniffed and swallowed before nodding.

"Yeah," He caught her gaze and said, "Don't leave me."

Her arms were around him in an instant, her head resting on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms back around her and she turned her head so she could kiss the hollow of his neck. She stayed like that for a few seconds before stopping whilst tightening her hold on him.

"I promise, I'll always be here for you."

He didn't say anything, but gave her a small squeeze of appreciation before finally relaxing into her arms.

* * *

><p>Hermione awoke a few hours later, still in Ron's embrace, lying on his bed. She guessed they'd both fallen asleep eventually after their conversation. She remembered they hadn't said anything after that.<p>

Knowing the reaction they would get if they were found like this, she unwrapped her arms from around him slowly and lifted her head off his chest, trying to move out of his hold but he only clutched onto her even more. The action tugged at her heart strings but she knew if she stayed she'd fall back to sleep again. She leant down and kissed his forehead which made him stir and his eyes lazily opened. A dazed smile appeared on his face and she returned it, moving his fringe out the way of his eyes.

"I have to go to Ginny's room now, okay?" She whispered, and saw a twinge of disappointment on his face but he gave a small nod.

"Okay." He said in the same tone, closing his eyes again, quickly drifting back to sleep. She softly kissed his lips before quietly walking to Ginny's room.

She should have known that Ginny would still be awake though.

"Don't think I don't know where you've been all this time." Ginny said coyly, sat up in her bed with a smirk on her face.

"Yes, well." Hermione said vaguely, a blush rising in her cheeks as she closed the door and pulled out her pyjamas from the drawers Ginny was letting her use.

"Do you know how long you've been gone?" Ginny asked, getting under the covers of her bed and placed the magazine she had been reading on her bedside table.

"No, but I don't see why it matters." Hermione replied, quickly changing whilst Ginny's gaze was averted.

"No-one has seen you or Ron for the past six hours." Ginny revealed, which did surprise Hermione. She tried not to show it though as she got into her bed and Ginny turned the lights out.

"We were talking and accidentally fell asleep, that's all." Hermione retorted simply.

"'Course you did." Ginny mumbled snarkily, but didn't push the issue anymore as she turned to her side and settled down to sleep. Hermione chewed her lip, wondering how long Ron and her were going to be able to keep them a secret. If Ginny was already guessing they were up to something then it wouldn't take much longer for everyone else too, but she didn't have time to think about it as her eyes were starting to feel heavy and in no time at all, she was fast asleep.

* * *

><p>Later that day, Hermione awoke from someone lightly knocking on the door. Her hopes immediately raised but were quickly dropped when she saw Molly poke her head through the door,<p>

"Hermione dear, I'm just waking you up since Arthur said you have to meet up with the Greengrass family in an hour. I've already got your breakfast ready downstairs." She said softly, quiet enough so she wouldn't wake Ginny. Hermione rubbed her eyes as she sat up and smiled appreciatively at Molly.

"Thank you Mrs Weasley, I must have forgotten to set an alarm." She admitted sheepishly.

"Not to worry." Molly answered with a smile, before exitting again.

Hermione furrowed her eyebrows, still not used to Molly's changed attitude towards her. She still hadn't figured out why Molly had this change of heart but she didn't dwell on it as she quickly got dressed and hurried downstairs, surprised to see that it was still dark out.

"Sorry for waking you so early." Arthur said, sat at the table finishing off the last of his breakfast. "We just thought the earlier we are, the better really as less people will be around to eaves drop on us."

"Of course, it's no problem." Hermione replied, trying to hide her yawn and started eating some porridge.

"If you're still tired when you come back, you can go to bed if you want." Molly offered, sipping at a cup of tea, sat opposite Hermione.

"I think I'll be all right but thank you anyway." Hermione answered, and the room fell into a comfortable silence.

Once Hermione finished her breakfast, Arthur set to work on her appearance. It didn't take long for him to do it; he added lots more freckles to her skin, changed her hair a ginger colour while also straightening it out and also altered her eye colour to a sky blue. If anyone saw her, they'd simply assume she was another Weasley.

After that, they did side along apparation to the gates of Hogsmeade. It was odd for Hermione being at Hogsmeade with the sun rising and in the holidays. She was surprised at how deserted the town seemed. If anyone were to walk through it they'd probably assume it was abandoned.

They started walking through the street at a casual pace, so not to seem suspicious, and Hermione glanced at Arthur, feeling a slightly uncomfortable silence brewing. She'd never been completely alone with him before and it didn't help that she was hiding her relationship with Ron from him. He caught her gaze, making her feel as if she should say something, so she said the first thing that came to her mind,

"Mr Weasley," She started.

"Please, call me Arthur. In fact I insist while we're here." He interrupted with a pleasant smile, and she returned it shyly.

"Arthur, I was just wondering why..." She trailed off for a moment, trying to think of the best way to word the sentence before continuing, "Why Mrs...Molly has been more affectionate with me recently? I'm not trying to imply she was ever unkind, because she wasn't, it's just that-"

"I think I know what you're trying to say, Hermione." Arthur said chuckling a little at her awkwardness. "I know she hasn't necessarily been the easiest person for you to get along with while you've been staying with us - I don't think I need to say why that is, but even she can only hold up a grudge so long."

"Sorry, I don't understand, why doesn't she have that grudge anymore?"

"Oh I thought it'd be obvious, since you probably saved Ron's life by apparating him away from the wedding. I don't think she wants to admit that's the real reason behind the attack, but it seems like the most likely and she did really appreciate what you did so..." Arthur trailed off, scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably, trying to block out the images that sprung to mind when he mentioned the possibility of Ron dying.

Now that Arthur had said it, it did seem obvious to Hermione that would be the reason for it. She couldn't dwell on why she hadn't considered it before because the Hogs Head came into view and she saw a wealthy, well-dressed couple standing outside.

"Morning." Arthur greeted politely, while the couple looked around nervously, constantly on the look out for anyone.

"Morning, Mr Weasley. I take it this is the girl who would be Daphne?" The man asked, pointing his leather gloved hand at Hermione.

"Yes." Arthur said simply, feeling no need to say anything else. The man frowned while his wife looked Hermione up and down shrewdly. Hermione crossed her arms, all of a sudden feeling self woman's sharp gaze was so intense that she thought she might be able to tell who she was, until logic caught up with her.

"And naturally you've disguised her and still won't tell us who she is." The man said disappointedly, while his wife let out a sigh, giving up instantly on figuring out who Hermione was.

"Sorry, Chris. We just can't risk it." Arthur answered, sounding genuinely apologetic. Chris's jaw tensed as he scrutinized Hermione for a moment, doing the same as his wife, but quickly gave up and reached inside his pocket.

"Very well. Here's everything you'll need. I trust that if any complications arise you will owl us immediately?" Chris asked, and his wife clutched onto his free hand.

"Of course, we'll use the codenames we devised yesterday." Arthur replied, trying to sound comforting. Chris still looked hesitant but pulled his hand out his pocket, holding a very small ring box. He passed it to Arthur but refused to let go of it. Hermione pressed her lips together seeing it and took a breath. She noticed how Chris was insistent on not letting go of it, even though Arthur was tugging on it.

She wasn't sure what made her say it, but she felt like she needed to say something.

"I know Mr Greengrass that it may seem as if it's only your daughter's life on the line by doing this, but you're forgetting mine is too. I'll do my utmost to make sure I make no mistakes as I simply can't afford too. I can promise you I won't do anything that would endanger either one of our lives and that I'll respect your privacy as well as Daphne's by not telling a soul about your past." Hermione stated confidently, and Chris stared at her blankly. He finally let go of the box and his arm went back to his side. Arthur quickly pocketed it and gave Hermione a grateful smile.

"I trust that's all you wanted, can we leave now?" His wife finally spoke up, in an unnaturally high pitched tone.

"Are the supplies also in here that I owled about last night?" Arthur asked, and she nodded vigurously.

"Yes, we put all of our stock in there." She answered instantly.

"And some samples?"

"Yes."

"Good, thankyou." Arthur shook hands with both of them before they hurriedly walked around the Hogs Head to the back of it. They heard a familiar cracking noise which indicated they'd apparated away. Arthur sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose as he and Hermione started making their way down the street.

"Forgive me for asking Mr – Arthur," Hermione said, "But why did you need me here if that was all we were going to be doing?"

"They insisted on it, said they wouldn't put their trust in just anyone and wanted to make sure they were putting it in the right person. Clearly, they think you are." Arthur said, a proud smile on his face.

"Oh." Hermione said, thinking they didn't need much convincing then.

Without another word, Arthur took hold of her hand and apparated them back to the Burrow.

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><p><strong>A:N I didn't have time to re-read this chapter for any spelling/grammar mistakes so apologies if there's any! I've pretty much had the busiest most stressful weekend of my life but luckily it wasn't in vain, I've been to Leavesden studios! Was really amazing, seriously if you ever get the opportunity to go you all should. Anyway, that's it for now!**


	28. Chapter 28

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com[]watch?v=MXL8BEPl-Nw**

**You know what to do.**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 28

Necessary Preparations

"_I was made to keep your body warm_

_But I'm cold as the wind blows_

_So hold me in your arms_

_Kiss me like like you want to be loved."_

_Kiss Me – Ed Sheeran_

Hermione was sat on Ron's bed, re-reading the notes the Greengrass family had left for her about Daphne's personality.

_Daphne is a bright girl with a particular flare for Transfiguration, but excels in all of her subjects. Appearance means a great deal to her and she's never seen as looking any less than perfect. She's incredibly ambitious and all of her motivation is focussed towards her becoming a column writer for the Daily Prophet..._

Ron snorted, reading what it said from over Hermione's shoulder, his arms wrapped around her from behind while she sat between his legs.

"What?" She asked, turning her head so she could look up at him.

"Nice to know they left out the bit where she's a heartless bitch who doesn't care about anyone other than herself." He commented, making Hermione's eyebrows shoot up, not used to hearing Ron talk about someone like that, unless it was Malfoy.

"Really? How?" She questioned, glancing back at the piece of parchment, quickly scanning it to see if the Greengrass's had mentioned her being a little hostile towards people.

"Well, that bit where she's ambitious is an understatement if anything. She's going to get what she wants, not caring who she tramples on along the way." Ron explained, and Hermione frowned at the parchment, wondering if it was really worth reading through if that was the case.

"Oh, what is she really like then?" Hermione asked, handing it to him to read and inevitably contradict.

"She didn't seem that bothered about work. She mainly went around with her boyfriends or group of friends in her spare time. By column writer they mean gossip columnist who has Rita Skeeter for an idol."

"What was she like as a person?" Hermione asked, looking at Ron shrewdly, beginning to suspect something.

"She's the kind of person that comes off as nice but is actually the opposite and uses it as a front." He said, and Hermione chewed her lip as she started thinking about how Ron could have got this impression of her.

"Did you – did you fancy her or something?" She asked reluctantly, telling herself that she had absolutely no right to feel jealous about it if he did.

"What? No, of course not!" He retorted, his ears turning a brilliant shade of pink and she sighed, knowing he was hiding the truth.

"You can tell me if you did, I mean, we did spend a few years not knowing eachother and it's not as if you couldn't ever feel that way about another girl." She said logically, still telling herself that she had no right to feel jealous. Ron scratched the back of his neck, knowing she wouldn't drop the subject so he explained,

"It was around my fourth, fifth year. I don't know, she started talking to me for some reason and I, like an idiot, thought it was because she actually wanted to get to know me and thought maybe she was different, and for awhile it stayed like that, but then randomly out of the blue she just stopped talking to me one day and would ignore me, pretending as if I didn't exist and I don't know – do we really have to talk about this?"

He looked at Hermione conflictedly, clearly not wanting to talk about it anymore so she shook her head.

"No, it's fine. I'm sorry I brought it up." She said, and he shrugged his shoulders before wrapping his arms around her middle more.

"It's okay, you didn't know."

Hermione took the parchment off him and placed it on the bedside table. She then leant back against him, placing her hands on top of his which lay on her stomach. She closed her eyes, trying to relax but there was one thought nagging at her brain and she knew if she didn't at least try to get an answer for it then she'd be up all night wondering about it.

"Did you ever find out why she did that?" Hermione asked hesitantly, but he shook his head, looking downcast. He looked so innocent and hurt in that moment, as if he'd transported himself back to that time. She couldn't help but feel a surge of love for him, gazing at him sympathetically as she tilted his head up before firmly pressing her lips against his. She tried to put as much passion as possible into that kiss before pulling away, to see his eyes remained closed with raised eyebrows. Once he opened them, a broad smile stretched across his face and he asked,

"What was that for?" She shrugged her shoulders.

"Just wanted you to know that I'd never do anything like that and how I think you should have been treated better." She stated simply, and he smiled softly at her. He gently tucked a lose strand of hair behind her ear, looking at her as if she was the most precious thing in the world, that he couldn't believe he was lucky enough to have someone like her in his arms.

She pressed her lips together, causing his eyes to drift down to her mouth where his pupils dilated.

"I think I might need you to convince me more." He said, running a finger down her jawline. She briefly closed her eyes from the pleasurable sensation it sent through her and licked her lips.

"Oh really?" She asked playfully, her eyes opening. He grinned at her, now running his finger down her neck. She held her breath, trying and failing not to show the effect he was having on her.

"Yeah." He replied, unable to come up with a better response. Her cheeks flushed with the growing heat that was blooming inside of her stomach but she forced herself not to focus on it, turning her head away from him.

"I'd love too, but I really need to revise more-" She said conflictedly, and felt his hand rest on her neck, his thumb stroking her skin. The course roughness of his fingertips against her soft tender skin was enough to make her tremble with desire and she instantly turned to look at him. He could see in her eyes that she'd already given in.

"No you don't, those are useless anyway. You know the stuff you need too. I tested you on their family history earlier, didn't I?" He said, starting to lean his head down.

"Yes but-" She argued, her eyes glued to his.

"And didn't you get everything right?" He pointed out, his face still coming closer to hers.

"Yes-" She said slowly, her gaze now on his lips.

"And it's not as if you need to try and be a better student to get the grades she does. You'll probably have to dumb yourself down a little." He said, his mouth an inch from hers.

"Ron," She started, her hot breath brushing over his lips.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up and kiss me already."

Happy to oblige, he said nothing else and did exactly that. His lips moved slowly and seductively over hers, teasing her in a way that he knew drove her mad. She internally groaned and tried to kiss him deeply but due to the awkward way her head was positioned it was too difficult. She tried pushing herself up his body but his arms around her stomach held her in place. He smiled against her lips, sensing her agitation.

_So that's the way he wants to play it, does he?_ She thought, getting an idea. She lightly started stroking his hands with her nails, not wanting him to think she was upto anything, while settling for the slow kiss he wanted. He pulled her bottom lip between his, sucking on it softly, making her breath catch in her throat and sent her heart racing in anticipation – but he just went back to moving his lips over hers again, frustrating her more.

She slipped her hands off of his and glided them down his front on either side of her body until she felt she was roughly where his hips were. He was only in a t-shirt so when she softly squeezed him there, he certainly felt it and she smirked against his lips, feeling him tense all over. She used the opportunity to do what he'd done to her, and pulled his bottom lip between hers, sucking on it softly. She felt a very specific part of him stiffening against her back, causing a flood of heat to surge through her stomach, while her hands descended onto his thighs. She spread her fingers, making him dig his into her, and ran them to the outer part of his legs before running them back up. She could tell he was no longer focussing on teasing her as his arms loosened around her with his breathing becoming hotter and heavier. She squeezed his thighs making him instinctively push upwards with his hips, letting out a groan of impatience. She squirmed above him, clamping her legs together in an attempt to relieve the friction she desired but it was useless.

Having enough of the teasing, she abruptly turned over so her front was against his, sitting back on her legs. His tongue instantly sought entrance into her mouth, one of his hands winding to the back of her head, and she parted her lips, unintentionally gripping onto his thighs in the process. He didn't seem to mind though as his hips thrusted upwards again, mimicking the action his tongue performed as it delved into her mouth. She whimpered, pressing her chest flush against his, her toes curling from the way he was massaging her tongue with his. He angled her head in a way that allowed him more access to her mouth and took full advantage of it, plunging his tongue into her mouth deeply, making her whimpering turn into a longing moan. She brought her hands upto his chest where she clenched his shirt into her fists, feeling as if her entire body was pulsating from how incredibly aroused she was. He must have been in a similar state to her since she could feel the evidence of it pressing against her stomach.

Chills ran through her realising it and heat spread through out her stomach, making her breathless. She didn't think she'd ever tire of this. Their kissing always wound up in sending her into some kind of frenzy.

Wanting to feel more, she threw out all her doubt and insecurity about doing it and just went with what she desired to do, and adjusted her legs so she was straddling him. Even though they were clothed, she could still feel him _there_ and a throaty moan escaped her lips, breaking the kiss. He didn't want to part just yet though as his lips descended down to her neck while he sat up straight. Her eyes stayed closed as her mouth remained open, that being the only way she could breathe and her arms wound around his shoulders, silently urging him on. Having never experienced his kisses below her jawline, she didn't know what to expect but it had certainly not been what she was going through. His lips were leaving a burning trail on her skin, making her even hotter than she already was, and she swallowed in an attempt to help alleviate her dry throat. She had no control over body, it felt weak and useless because all she could feel was him and the way she was reacting to him. His hands descended to her bum where he lightly squeezed her and she let out a noise of surprise from the tingles it sent through her skin.

Suddenly there was a sharp knocking at the door, sending a wave of ice cold water over the pair of them, and they instantly stopped. They quickly came to their senses and jumped apart to opposite ends of the bed while Hermione flattened out her hair and clothes and Ron grabbed a pillow to put on his lap.

"Yeah?" Ron said, unable to hide his frustration. Hermione just managed to pick up the parchment in time as the door opened and Arthur stepped inside. If he had suspected anything happening between the teenagers, he certainly didn't show it as he said,

"Have you seen the Prophet today?"

"No, why?" Hermione asked, a sense of dread filling her from the expression on Arthur's face.

"Severus Snape's been made headmaster."

Despite the fact it was front page news, there was little to no explanation as to why Snape had been made headmaster, considering Dumbledore's 'disappearance' in the wizarding world it should have been McGonagall who would take up the position as she had been deputy headmistress. However, even though it hadn't been explained, it was fairly obvious who had ensured the necessary changes so Snape would become headmaster instead.

While the article was incredibly vague, it did also explain who would be taking over the Defence Against the Dark Arts position as well. Similarly to the news of Snape, it was clear who was behind it and that the people chosen were some of the worst for the job. Not knowing a lot about the Carrow siblings, most of the details about them were filled in for Hermione, but the more she found out, the less she wanted to know. She'd known they were Death Eaters but some of the crimes they performed sounded so meaningless. They'd mostly just been petty attacks on no-one significant but done for their own amusement or to widen the threat of the Death Eaters and Voldemort. The Carrows mainly performed killings on muggles but would usually involve some kind of torture beforehand.

No-one spoke much at dinner that night. They were all too consumed with their own thoughts, but they were all along the same lines. Hogwarts certainly wasn't the safest place in the wizarding world anymore and could possibly be one of the most dangerous. It was no wonder that it had been announced a couple of weeks ago that attendance was mandatory. They clearly wanted to keep a watchful eye on all the young wizards and witches, but for what reason remained to be seen.

After dinner, Hermione went down to the basement where the polyjuice potion was brewing and added some lacewing flies to the mixture. She then stirred it anti-clockwise twenty times, added a leech and then stirred again. She repeated this process four times before she heard someone walking down the stairs.

"How far along is it?" Ginny asked, walking towards Hermione.

"Should be done by next week. I have to add the fluxweed tomorrow night and then five days after that I can add her hair." Hermione explained, Ginny now at her side peering into the large cauldron which held the thick, bubbling mixture. "Now, what's the real reason you're here for?"

Ginny shifted her feet awkwardly and stared down at the ground. Hermione stopped mixing the potion, having finished everything she needed to do that night, and turned towards the younger girl who was now clenching her fists.

"You know when I asked you to come here that there was a reason why I needed you here." Ginny said tensely, still staring resolutely at the ground. Hermione instantly remembered holding a crying Ginny in her arms a few weeks ago and how she said she knew it would happen again, she would break down and she would need Hermione there the next time it happened.

"Yes." Hermione said cautiously, and Ginny slowly brought her head up, showing her glassy eyes. "Oh Ginny..."

"It's stupid, I know. But just finding out about Hogwarts today, it really hit me how nowhere is safe anymore and I couldn't help thinking if this is what we're going through then what is he-"

"I know, I know." Hermione said softly, not wanting to hear what she was about to say as she knew it herself. Ginny closed her eyes and a tear seeped out of her eye. Hermione felt a rush of sympathy towards her and placed what she hoped was a reassuring hand on her shoulder. More tears flowed down Ginny's cheeks but when Hermione moved to hug her, she took a small step back.

"I'm terrified, and not just about him - although he is the reason for a lot of it. I'm scared about you too, you're risking so much by going and if they ever found out about your plan." Ginny admitted fearfully.

"They won't." Hermione said reassuringly, tears still running down Ginny's cheeks.

"But what if they?" Ginny questioned, and Hermione shook her head.

"They won't." Hermione said firmly, and they heard some people walking down the stairs. Fred and George appeared, the smiles dropping off their faces at the rare sight of their younger sister crying. Hermione stepped away from Ginny, knowing exactly who she needed, and the twins were next to her in a flash. Not wanting to intrude on the sentimental moment, Hermione left and walked upstairs.

She went to Ginny's room, thinking she could study more of the Greengrass family's history. She sat on her bed and picked up the first piece of parchment she could find. She didn't even have a chance to read a single word before there was a knocking at the door.

"Come in." She called out, not wanting to get up and the door opened. Ron stepped inside nervously and taking one look at his posture, she knew she wasn't going to like what he was about to say. "What is it?"

He rubbed the back of his neck as he sat down at the end of her bed and let out a long sigh, figuring it was best to get it over and done with.

"Are you really sure you want to do this? Go to Hogwarts as Daphne - there's still time for you to back out you know." He said, staring in her eyes with such an intense hopefulness that she found she couldn't feel angry at him at all.

"I'm sure." She stated, showing there was no room for argument. It looked as if he wanted to retort but he, for once, held his tongue, understanding why she had to do this.

"You need any help?" He asked, and she smiled at him gratefully.

"That would be great."

He grinned back at her and she handed him the parchment she'd been intending to read. He helped her revise for the next hour and not once did he break to try and start more _entertaining_ activities, like the other times he'd offered his assistance. It really showed how, despite him not liking her decision, he was determined to help her succeed in the way she wanted too. It was only when Ginny walked in that they eventually stopped and he went to bed.

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><p>Over the next week, Hermione's studying of Daphne Greengrass went exactly as planned. She'd learnt it to the point where she knew every detail about their family. If asked, she could have told anyone that the uncle of Daphne had allegedly helped create the Sleeping Draught potion whereas their great great grandmother had an affair with a muggle woman which caused her disownment.<p>

For the other preparations, to do with the polyjuice potion, the Weasleys and her had calculated before how much she would need and had made enough to last her just over three months, which would take her upto the beginning of the Christmas holidays. After that, they'd found three large containers which would hold the potion between them and a flask that she'd use for her daily amount once she was at Hogwarts. The only real problem with her having to take the potion was that there was no way around her having to take it every hour, even if it was just a sip she needed, but as they'd already established that she was head girl, therefore having her own dormitory, it shouldn't be too much trouble. She could always be discrete with her taking it in the day.

There was just one final thing she needed to do, so it was for that reason that Hermione was testing out the potion to make sure it worked perfectly. It was a soft yellow colour and, much to Hermione's appreciation, tasted far nicer than Milicent Bulstrode's cat. The actual process however remained very much the same. The pain of having her bones shifting, her skin stretched, her insides writhing was complete agony but she persevered with it, thinking the situation would have been much harder to go through if Ron hadn't been there.

After she caught her breath and could only feel a slight tingling sensation over her skin, she straightened up and looked at Ron who was blinking several times, staring at her as if he couldn't recognise her, which made sense when she thought about it.

"So, how do I look? I don't look like me at all, do I?" Hermione asked, and Ron shook his head, still blinking rapidly. Seeing his wide eyed expression, she guessed she wouldn't be able to get more of a response out of him then that so she walked over to the mirror and gasped at the sight of her.

The potion had worked perfectly. She looked nothing like herself. Her skin was paler than she was used too and looked completely flawfree. There were no blemishes or freckles covering her skin and when she looked closer at her self, she could see the colour of her veins around her brown eyes. While they were still the same colour, the shade was actually much darker than hers, practically black. Her hair was a lot thinner and longer, reaching to the middle of her back - completely straight and was golden blonde.

Her body was smaller too, even though she was taller, being around 5'8 than her normal 5'5 height. Despite that, she also looked thinner. Not too thin but just toned. All in all, Hermione looked beautiful.

"She's pretty." Hermione commented lightly, and saw Ron come up behind her in her reflection. He shrugged his shoulders looking over her with a small grimace.

"I guess, I still prefer the way you look though." Ron said honestly, and Hermione smiled at him. She turned around to look at him properly and placed her hands on his chest, a thought occurring to her.

"You know, when we're at Hogwarts, we could always be together. I mean, me as Daphne and you as you." She suggested, and Ron's smile formed into a frown.

"I don't know that seems a bit weird." He admitted, reluctant to meet her eyes.

"Why? It's still me, I'm not her." Hermione said insistently, and he placed his hands on her waist unsurely.

"I know that, but you still look different. It feels weird." He said, still having the grimace on his face. She briefly wondered what she could say to convince him and for some reason, her straddling him while they snogged heavily entered her mind.

"It'd just be in the day, I'd look like myself at night." She pointed out, unable to prevent herself from blushing.

"That's true." He said, having momentarily forgotten that fact.

"And it would be easier for us to talk in public that way." She said, and then bit her lip anxiously.

"What do you reckon the others would say? The other Slytherins though? What if they begin to suspect you're not her because of it? I don't want to take that chance if it means that."

"I can always come up with an excuse."

"But doesn't she have a boyfriend already?"

"No, they split up during the summer."

"I don't know." He said, but caught her hopeful gaze. Even though she looked nothing like herself, Hermione was still in there and her hopefulness was practically radiating off her. "Only if you're absolutely sure you'll be safe and no-one will suspect anything."

She beamed and flung her arms around him, hugging him tightly before she kissed him. He quickly pulled away though.

"Sorry, it just, it feels odd. Like I'm cheating on you or something." He admitted, hoping she wouldn't be angry. She shrugged her shoulders, thinking nothing of it.

"That's fine. We'll just have to make up for lost time in the evenings then when I'm myself." She said flirtatiously, and he grinned at her.

She wasn't sure why but it really hit her then how different it would be for her at Hogwarts over the next year. Not just because of the obvious reasons, but for the simple reason that she would be in a different house. She'd be a Slytherin, not a Gryffindor.

"What's it like being in Slytherin?" She asked. The second the words came out of her mouth she regretted them and immediately tried taking it back, "I'm sorry, that was a stupid thing for me to-"

"No, it's okay." He said, sounding a little forced. "I guess things might be sort of better this year with you there too."

She smiled softly at him, but it quickly dissolved as she remembered how everytime he had spoken about his being in Slytherin had never ended pleasantly. She frowned, everything coming back to her. How miserable he'd been. How he loathed it. How he never felt like he belonged there.

She hadn't thought about it in so long. There had just been so much happening recently that it had been pushed to the back of her mind as a consequence. She could have hit herself because she knew he deserved better then that. She'd always wondered how it could have happened and she knew that he did too, even if he didn't say it out loud. Maybe with her also experiencing what it was like to be a Slytherin, it would become more evident as to why he was in that house.

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><p>Before Hermione knew it, she was getting up on the day they were due to return to Hogwarts. Similarly to the last year she had been at the Burrow, the house was in complete chaos again. But there was something definitely off too. While last year, there had been an air of excitement too it all with everybody rushing around, there was now an air of fear. It was probably for that reason that they actually made it to King's Cross Station early.<p>

They'd arranged to meet the Greengrass family just outside the muggle entrance to the Ministry of Magic, so Hermione could go with them instead of the Weasleys because it would then appear as if they were saying goodbye to their daughter at the platform. Once she had met up with them, the silence that filled the taxi they were in was one of the most uncomfortable of her life. What could she possibly say to them? It was because of this that she didn't say anything, after all as they had a muggle driver she couldn't say too much anyway.

When they got out and were on platform nine and three quarters, the awkwardness hadn't dissappated in the slightest. If anything, it had increased as they now had to put on a performance of having some sort of heartfelt goodbye.

Chris and Louise Greengrass stood in front of her, both of them looking incredibly tense and uncomfortable. Hermione looked around the platform briefly and was reminded of how she felt earlier at the Burrow. Like last year, everyone was saying goodbye to their families, safely knowing they'd be seeing one another soon but this year, there was more of an element of fear too it, as if they were saying goodbye for good.

"Well," Louise started, a painfully obvious fake smile on her face as she stepped towards Hermione, "Have a good time at school."

Hermione was then engulfed in Louise's arms and she couldn't say she'd ever experienced such a stiff hug before. Nonetheless, Hermione wrapped her arms back around the older woman and, feeling as if she had to say something, said in a quiet voice,

"Thankyou."

When Louise pulled away, her smile now appeared genuine and Hermione returned it. Chris quickly hugged her too and Hermione was more than surprised when she felt him peck her forehead, holding her head in his hands.

"Be careful." He said softly, and she nodded, rendered speechless by his actions.

They said their goodbyes before Hermione made her way onto the train, hoping her nervousness wasn't showing on her face. She was somewhat lucky in a way as she had to head straight to the prefect's compartment where she'd be instructed on her duties as Head Girl. When she walked inside, she was relieved to see that it was Professor McGonagall there and not one of the Carrow siblings like she'd been expecting. She guessed that the reason was it was simply too mundane for them to do.

Nonetheless, she didn't show the relief on her face, keeping in mind that she was Daphne, not Hermione. She recalled what she'd learnt about Daphne's actions towards teachers,

_Daphne is always respectful to her educators, especially if they're involved in subjects she has an interest in._

Hermione also remembered how the Greengrass's had mentioned Daphne's particular flare for Transfiguration, so she felt safe in putting a polite smile on her face and greeting the professor with an enthusiastic,

"Good morning, Professor."

McGonagall looked up at her from the parchment she had been reading and a broad smile spread across her features.

"Morning Miss Greengrass, how was your summer? I'm sorry to hear about your sister, how is she doing?" The older woman asked, as Hermione sat down opposite her.

"Oh it was fine aside from that. She'd not too good I'm afraid so she has to stay home for awhile, but I'm not sure if the spattergroit will improve any time soon." Hermione explained, tightening the hair her ponytail was in. She briefly wondered if she'd ever get used to the feel of the sleek texture of it instead of her usual tangled frizzy strands.

"That's a shame. I'm sure Professor Slughorn will be disappointed, he often told me how he felt she was a natural at potions." McGonagall said, now flicking through the parchment before placing one on top.

"Yes, she told me to send her apologies to him." Hermione commented, straightening out the pleats in her skirt. The two were silent for a few minutes until Professor McGonagall let out a sigh and looked at Hermione.

"Miss Greengrass, I feel as if I should let you know that I've been made aware of your situation."

Hermione's eyes widened for a second before she composed herself, praying she hadn't been too obvious. For all she knew, McGonagall might not be talking about what she thought she was.

"Mr Weasley informed me of it, feeling as if there should be one person in the Order at Hogwarts who knew about it."

Okay, so it turned out she was. Hermione couldn't help but feel as if a weight had lifted off her chest, knowing it would be safe to act as herself around the one teacher she really wanted too.

"I'm guessing by your reaction it slipped his mind to tell you?" Professor McGonagall said, her lips curving upwards slightly.

"Yes it did, but thankyou for letting me know." Hermione said gratefully.

"No worries. Also, if it helps, you're doing an excellent job." She admitted, and Hermione let out a sigh of relief, knowing she wouldn't just be saying that.

"Thankyou."

"And in case you ever run out of those potions for your sister, don't hesitate in coming to my office as I have stock of them that I can easily send to her." Professor McGonagall explained, the look in her eyes hinting that she was actually referring to something else. Hermione grinned at her, picking up on it easily, and thanked her again just before the compartment door opened.

Having already suspected it, Hermione wasn't surprised to see Draco Malfoy walk inside. What she was surprised to see was how run down he looked. He seemed even paler than usual and had a very haggard look about him, with his hollow cheeks and dark shadows under his eyes. She frowned a little at the sight but tried to look oblivious to it when he glanced her way.

"Hey Daphne. Heard about Astoria, is she going to be okay?" He asked, and Hermione was slightly surprised to hear the amount of concern that was in his tone.

"We're not sure at the moment. She's practically bedridden and she might have to go back to St Mungo's soon if things don't change." Hermione explained, maybe over-exaggerating the situation a little.

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that." He commented, looking even more depressed as he took a seat next to her.

Hermione couldn't question his unusual attitude any longer as McGonagall started explaining their duties as Head Boy and Girl. Much of it was exactly what Hermione expected; they'd hold detentions and would sort out the prefect patrolling schedule. What she hadn't expected was that was all there was too it. They weren't required to do anything else. When they were finishing up, she couldn't help but ask,

"Is that all we have to do?"

The professor sighed and started packing away the parchment a little more vigurously.

"Yes, Miss Greengrass - the headmaster feels as if your duties and the prefects' aren't as necessary as they once were since he's stopping a lot of extra-curricular activities that would usually need your assistance."

"Like what?" Draco asked, beating Hermione too it.

"Such as Quidditch, Hogsmeade trips, Apparation lessons, there will be a full list of what's no longer permitted with your timetables tomorrow." McGonagall explained irritably. While Hermione was surprised by the news, Draco seemed more angered by it, something that didn't go unnoticed by McGonagall. "I suggest Mr Malfoy if you have any problems with these new arrangements that you take them up with the headmaster himself, as I apparently no longer have the authority to change the rules."

With that, she walked briskly out of the compartment, leaving Hermione and Draco alone. Despite the fact he had no idea who she was, Hermione couldn't help but still feel uncomfortable being around him, wondering if he would insult at her any given moment. She forced down her worry though and pulled out her make-up bag.

"Shall we just get on with the patrolling schedule now? It'll be easier than doing it later." She suggested, taking out a small mirror, knowing how Daphne couldn't possibly look 'anything less than perfect'.

"Fine." He grumbled frustratedly, yanking out some parchment with a quill and ink. Thinking it was best to act ignorant she touched up her make-up quickly, the way Ginny had taught her too.

"Since all extra-curricular activites have been revoked, I don't think anyone should have a problem with the system we plan out. I think it would be fair for two pairs of prefects to patrol each night in intervals of two hours each. Obviously the younger prefects would take the earlier shift and the older ones the later shift." She explained, while applying a little more mascara and foundation.

"Sounds like you've got it all figured out." Draco commented, picking his bag up. "You mind if you do this on your own Daph'? I could do with some time to myself, dad's been well, you know – _dad_ all summer, and I really need it."

Normally, Hermione would insist on him staying, explaining that it was his job as a head boy but as she wasn't herself, she didn't.

_Daphne will always do what is asked of her, especially if it's something she may benefit from._

Hermione thought Daphne would probably do it herself and then take all the credit for it later, so she put on a fake smile.

"Of course not, you go ahead."

"Thanks, I knew you would say that." Draco answered, without a single ounce of gratitude and walked out.

Hermione sighed and put away the make-up, starting to get on with the schedule. She glanced through the prefect list and noticed something odd about it. Some of the people who had been prefects last year were no longer ones and had been replaced with others, most notably Slytherins that were in support of Voldemort. She frowned but realised as she looked through it that all the people she knew who were prefects, also happened to be purebloods. It therefore didn't seem to be much of a guess that the other prefects were purebloods too. Apparently the Muggleborn Registration still wasn't enough, they still felt the need to make half-bloods feel isolated too.

She looked at it in disgust just as the compartment door opened.

"Hi." Ron said, walking inside. "Saw Malfoy and thought you'd be done."

"No, he left me to do...something, I don't know so I have to do the prefect schedule myself." She snapped, feeling more angered about her discovery than with Draco.

"Oh, right. Need a hand?" Ron asked, sitting next to her, making her anger diminish.

"That'd be great."

Together they worked out a plan, which might have been made in a way that benefitted Hermione's situation as they made sure she'd be patrolling with Ron and on the floors near McGonagall's office.

It took longer than expected since they'd just finished in time for them to change into their uniforms before the train pulled up at the Hogsmeade station. Hermione took Ron's hand in hers as they stepped off it, giving him a reassuring smile. While they made their way to a carriage, they recieved a few strange looks but nobody seemed to think much of it. But then again, they didn't run into any of the people who they needed to worry about.

As they made their way to Hogwarts, both of them spoke of how different the year would be, but neither of them truly knew how horrible those changes would be.

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><p><strong>A:N As you guys have probably guessed, I'm starting my exams soon (tomorrow, to be exact) and as I need to make sure I get the grades I need for uni, they're pretty important so I won't have as much time to write over the next 6 weeks. That said, I should be able to still update every 2 weeks as I've still got a few chapters written ahead - but there might be a bit of a lull period after that. I'm hoping that won't be the case but if it is, I'll let you know for sure then.**

**Thanks for all the reviews, alert, favourites etc!**


	29. Chapter 29

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=-mnk4dmMIww**

**You know the drill by now.**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 29

Dark Beginnings

"_Time waits for no-one_

_So do you want to waste some time?_

_Oh tonight_

_Don't be afraid of tomorrow_

_Just take my hand_

_I'll make it feel so much better tonight."_

_Illuminated – Hurts_

When Hermione woke the next morning, it took her a minute to remember where she was. The room around her was unfamiliar. It was dark with a slight ethereal glow around it as the light was shining through some heavy green drapes. The whole room had a green tinge too it, the walls and floor being various shades of it, but there were a few hints of grey here and there. And that was when everything came flooding back, she was in the Slytherin dormitory. To be exact, she was in her own dormitory, because she'd taken on Daphne's identity and had been made head girl.

She took a deep breath before glancing over at the clock on her bedside table, saw she had plenty of time to prepare herself, and got up. The first thing she did was take a large gulp of the polyjuice potion. She couldn't risk being seen as herself for a second more than needed and she wanted to develop some sort of routine. She'd somehow forgotten how painful the transformation was so she had to bite her lip to prevent herself from making any noise, not wanting to risk anyone hearing her.

Once it ended, which was surprisingly quick, she looked over herself in the mirror, or rather, her-Daphne-self. Seeing she looked as she should, she had a shower before changing into her uniform and organised her bag, mainly making sure she had her essential 'drink'.

It was still fairly early in the morning, breakfast didn't start for another hour so normally, Hermione would have found a book to read to pass the time but given the fact she was no longer Hermione, she let out a sigh, pulling out a huge make-up bag and set to work on making herself up. She personally found the whole thing rather tedious and could think of a thousand things she could be doing which would be far more productive but, nonetheless, she persisted with it. As she was still getting used too it, it took her a lot longer then planned so when she was finally done, breakfast was about to start.

She had another gulp of her 'drink' and made her way to the common room where Daphne's friend, Ingrid, was waiting. Hermione didn't actually know an awful lot about her as she'd never spoken to the girl. All she knew was that she was Daphne's best friend and had been for the past few years, that she came from a wealthy family and had a certain _reputation_ about her.

"Morning, Ingrid." Hermione greeted cheerfully, causing Ingrid to glance up from painting her nails. They were a vivid red colour that matched her lipstick perfectly.

There was no doubt about it, Ingrid was stunningly beautiful. She embodied that figure so many girls wished they had but didn't, the one where she had curves in all the right places but was somehow still skinny. Her dark hair was in soft curls that framed her youthful milky face where her sharp blue eyes stood out.

She smiled at Hermione, showing off her pearly white teeth.

"Morning, Daph'. Sleep okay?" She asked, before blowing on her nails and Hermione sat down next to her.

"Yeah, great actually." Hermione responded honestly, remembering everything she could about Daphne's personality so she could generate the most similar responses. She tried not to get herself too worked up about it, telling herself the more nervous she became the more likely it would be that she'd make a mistake.

"Of course you did with that room of yours, hope you make good use of it soon. Lord knows I'd love a room to myself." Ingrid said with an edge of longing, making Hermione laugh a little.

"I can't think why." Hermione said, making Ingrid roll her eyes.

"Not in that way – although I wouldn't mind it for those reasons now you've mentioned it. I'd somehow forgotten how loud Milicent's snoring could be." Ingrid said, now satisfied with the state her nails were in and picked up her shoulder bag.

"Have to say that is one of the perks of my own room." Hermione retorted, and they both stood up while Ingrid laughed. "So how was your summer?"

"It was good - mum and dad were more disgusting than usual. I thought after Genivieve was born their lives had to revolve around her but it seems like they're closer than ever. I wouldn't mind so much if it wasn't affecting my life." Ingrid explained irritably, and Hermione had to physically stop herself from biting her lip. That was a Hermione habit, not a Daphne one. She instead tightened the ponytail her hair was in before answering,

"How was your life then _in that respect?_" She questioned, and a broad, flirtatious smile spread across her face.

"Fan-fucking-tastic." Ingrid replied, so Hermione laughed appropriately. "How about you, Daph? Were my eyes decieving me last night when you were with Weasley last night?"

Even though Ingrid had referred to him by his surname, there didn't seem to be any resentment to her tone. Apparently that was just how everyone referred to him in Slytherin.

"No, they weren't and his name's Ron." Hermione said.

"Okay, so you and _Ron_ then, how'd that happen?" Ingrid asked curiously.

"We ran into eachother in Diagon Alley and got to talking, wound up spending the day together. He asked if I wanted to do it again sometime and it just sort of went from there." Hermione answered instinctively, having already thought of it earlier, and Ingrid grinned at her but it didn't meet her eyes.

"That's great, I'm really happy for you Daph'. It's just-"

"What?" Hermione said, unable to stop the anger from seeping into her tone.

"All right, you know I have an issue with him and his family but this is your decision and I wouldn't try to change it if it's what you really wanted. It's just that last time, you know when you were kind of friends with him? That stuff Malfoy said to you about deciding where you and your family's loyalties lie, I thought that scared you off." Ingrid explained, and Hermione prayed her astonishment over learning that fact hadn't shown on her face. She quickly pulled herself together and came up with an answer off the top of her head,

"Yeah well, I decided I don't really care what he thinks. Come on, how much influence do him and his family even have these days?"

"Guess you've got a point there." Ingrid admitted. "How far have you gone then?"

"Ingrid! We've only been together a few weeks." Hermione replied, spluttering slightly as she was unable to prevent the embarassed blush from rising in her cheeks.

"I know, I know but that's a lot of time to some people." Ingrid responded, not being very subtle over who thought of it that way.

"Not that far." Hermione answered vaguely, when they entered the Great Hall.

"What does that mean?"

"Well you know..." Hermione trailed off, sitting down at a place at the Slytherin table.

"Come on, I don't know why you're acting all shy about this, you never have been before." Ingrid said suspiciously, causing the smile to falter on Hermione's face. Ingrid scrutinised her for a moment and Hermione cautiously looked over at her wide-eyed, "Unless this means you really like him."

"I do." Hermione said truthfully, a relieved smile spreading across her face.

"That's good then. It's nice to not rush things with those you really want." Ingrid said, her eyes misting over. Hermione frowned but didn't question it as their breakfast appeared in front of them and they started eating.

More people started filing in and Hermione was just finishing off her fruit when Ron sat next to her, giving her a peck on the cheek.

"Morning." He greeted yawning, placing some bacon and eggs on his plate. He glanced over at Ingrid hesitantly and awkwardly muttered, "Ingrid."

"Weas-Ron." She said in a similar tone, taking a sip of her drink, avoiding his gaze.

Hermione looked over Ron and caught sight of the dark shadows under his eyes and his pale skin.

"Are you feeling okay?" She asked concerned, while he ate.

"Fine." He answered, but gave her a look that he would tell her about it later. She nodded subtley as Professor Slughorn made his way around the table with everyone's timetables. She looked through it to see that first she had Defence Against the Dark Arts with Ron and then Potions,Transfiguration and Herbology. Ordinarily it wouldn't seem like a bad day, but given how different things were becoming at Hogwarts, it could be far from it.

"What do you reckon lessons will be like then?" Ron asked, voicing her thoughts.

"Probably all the same except Defence." Ingrid replied casually, clearly not bothered by it.

"Going by the welcoming speech they gave last night, I'd think it be far from it. Even though most lessons will remain 'normal', the Carrows influence will undoubtedly have an effect." Eva, Daphne's other close friend, said as she sat down opposite the three of them.

"Oh yes, Eva, I was wondering when you'd show up." Ingrid said disdainfully, fidgeting uncomfortably.

"It's a wonder you appeared at all this morning, Ingrid, given what you'd been upto into the late hours of the night." Eva retorted scathingly, and Ingrid rolled her eyes, not bothering to answer back. Eva looked over at Hermione, her green eyes narrowing in scrutinisation.

Judging from the few seconds she'd been with Eva, the information Hermione had been given about her vast intellect was an understatement. With her mousy brown hair pulled tightly back into a bun and stern expression, she had a no-nonsense attitude about her. It didn't take a lot for Hermione to realise that Eva'd be the one person she'd have to worry about discovering her real identity and she'd really have to watch herself around her.

"You seem happier than usual but I suppose that'd be natural as you're just entering a new relationship." Eva stated, choosing not to eat anything but instead drink a lot of pumpkin juice.

"And good morning to you too, Eva." Hermione said sighing, in a way she hoped prove how she was used to this kind of behaviour from her. Eva then turned her attention to Ron who was now wide-eyed, slowly chewing on his food.

"Judging by the bruising around his eyes, he approximately got four hours sleep but rather than his sleeping condition being effected by a change of place, the sickly colour of his skin indicates he was instead up worrying over something or someone and, again when you take into account the recent development of your relationship, the most likely person would actually be you, maybe because he knows how concerned you are over your sister's health." Eva informed Hermione, making Ron blink several times.

"I urr don't think it's any of your business what I was worrying about." He said awkwardly, and Eva looked as if she was going to reply but thought better of it.

"Eva, must you start everyday with this showing-off act of yours?" Ingrid asked exasperatedly.

"Honestly Ingrid, your lack of memory is genuinely worrying at times. It helps me start my day and get my brain working. I even put that into terms you would understand so I do hope you appreciate it." Eva snapped, rolling her eyes and Ingrid glared at her, looking as if she was going to retort.

"That was odd for Snape not to show up last night, I thought as headmaster he'd be the one giving the speech this year." Hermione interrupted, as if she hadn't heard the exchange between the two girls.

"Like Snape would do anything because it's 'expected'." Ingrid pointed out hastily, wanting to beat Eva to the punch.

"As much as it pains me to admit it, Ingrid does have a point. Seems to me that he never wanted to be headmaster but it was something the Dark Lord forced upon him so I doubt we'll see very much of him. The Carrows will probably end up running the place instead, since they're obviously far happier to do it."

Throughout the day, it became clear just how true Eva's predictions had been. Defence Against the Dark Arts had been one of the hardest Hermione had ever sat through. The only one that even compared to it was her first lesson in her fourth year with who she thought had been Mad-Eye Moody at the time when he performed the unforgivable curses in front of the class. In a way, their lesson with the Carrows was very similar to that one because, while they hadn't necessarily been shown the effects of the curses in front of them, they had been given new books which gave very graphic and detailed accounts of various cases where they'd been used. What was particularly disturbing about them was how they described them in a perverse admirable manner.

Hermione was sat at a desk next to Ron during the lesson, reading one of the assigned cases for the use of the Imperius curse.

_During the Dark Lord's first rising to power, before his loyal followers would become Death Eaters, they would have to show their dedication by using an 'Unforgivable'. They were permitted to use them in any way they wished and while many chose to use the Cruciatus curse, one of the most memorable and ingenious ways of using one was actually performed by Damon Avery._

_ Avery used the Imperius curse on a middle-aged muggle man for many months and forced him to become a serial rapist. These vicious rapes would often end up with the young muggle women becoming permanently injured or in some cases, they would have died from the attack. Avery only stopped performing this curse on the unnamed muggle man when he'd been driven mad by the use of it and committed suicide from the vague memories of his rapes. _

_ If we can learn anything from Avery, it is that what may seem to be the most gratifying use of a curse, may not seem so. Avery took a curse which is typically used for the user's advantage – to help them achieve something - instead he twisted it into a remarkable use of torture, which not only affected the possessed person, but many other people._

Hermione couldn't bear to read anymore, feeling an incredibly nauseous churn in her stomach. She almost felt relieved when she saw a piece of parchment drop onto her desk, something that went unnoticed by the Carrows who had insisted on absolute silence as the students read, until she realised it obviously hadn't been Ron who sent it to her. She cautiously opened it and read,

_We need to talk. After the lesson._

_DM_

She glanced around the room until she met Draco's gaze and gave him a brief nod, already sensing what the conversation was going to be about. It seemed as if Eva's predictions weren't the only ones that were true. It just so happened that Hermione caught Ingrid's gaze, who'd seen the interaction between her and Draco, and she gave her a reassuring smile.

"This is sick!" A voice exclaimed suddenly, alerting everybody. Neville stood up, anger etched into every inch of his face. Hermione's eyebrows shot up, hardly expecting him to be the one to stand up to the Carrows out of everyone. Everyone looked around at eachother, each having a similar surprised expression on their faces, all except for the Carrows – both of them appearing outraged.

"Sit down." Alecto Carrow snapped, her eyes turning into slits. Neville's anger faltered but he remained standing.

"No. I won't learn about this – this revolting stuff that doesn't help me in any way." He retorted, his fists clenched at his sides. Amycus, apparently having enough of Neville's rebelliousness, strode over to him and abruptly smacked him across the face. There was a collective gasp around the room from the action, even from those who approved of it were still surprised by it. The blow had been so hard that tears had welled up in Neville's eyes but he refused to let them fall, his jaw set as he swallowed. Amycus had clearly been expecting him to sit back down but the gratified smile on his face dissolved when he realised that wouldn't be the case. Hermione wondered if he was going to hit him again when the bell rang, signifying the end of the lesson. Everyone started packing away and with the Carrows authority being too violated by Neville, they didn't think anything of it and simply demanded only he stay behind.

Despite how concerned she was, Hermione knew she couldn't show any of it without risking revealing her identity or at least something suspicious, so she hurriedly packed away like the majority of the class and left the room.

She stood outside it with Ron in a tense violence, both wanting to talk about what happened but felt like they couldn't with everyone around them.

"Well, I've got Divination now so I should probably go." Ron said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly and she nodded.

"Yeah, sure umm I'll see you later, at the usual spot." She said, hinting at what she was really trying to tell him.

"Okay." He answered understanding, and quickly pecked her lips. "Bye."

"Bye."

Just as Ron was walking away, Draco came upto her and she unintentionally held her breath.

"Can we talk in private?" He asked stiffly, and she nodded mutely. He lead her to an empty classroom and the moment he shut the door, he rounded on her. "What the fuck are you doing?"

She took a step back with huge eyes, not expecting him to act this way towards her so quickly and if she were being completely honest, she hadn't thought he would at all. She knew that the Greengrass family and the Malfoy family went back generations with their relationships. They got along famousely and she didn't think Draco would do anything that would jeopardise that relationship, knowing how unpopular he would be with his parents if he did.

"I-I-I," She stammered, wondering if she could turn the situation around to her advantage if she made herself appear weak.

"I thought I made myself clear the last time you were speaking with _him_." He spat venemously. Her mouth was agape and when she was about to retort he continued, "I told you specifically that if you were seen with him or started befriending him then it wouldn't be in your best interests for you or your family."

She blinked a few times and swallowed.

"I know what effects my family or not." Hermione said feebly, and Draco let out a frustrated sigh.

"Look, I'm not supposed to tell you this but the Dark Lord's starting to question you and your family – where your support is and is considering on proving where they should lie. Now, you and I both know that means one of you might end up being killed and...I'm just looking out for you, okay?" Draco explained, going from unruled anger to guilt in a few seconds. She frowned, having not known that the Greengrass's were already appearing that way towards Voldemort and his followers.

"That is exactly why I'm doing this." She said reluctantly, trying to show some distress. He furrowed his brows at her.

"What do you mean?" He asked, and she let out a dramatic sigh.

"Okay you know last year, when he infiltrated here and he – he left _him_ at the Forbidden Forest." She started, pausing for Draco to show some sign of recognition until she continued, "He didn't necessarily get what he wanted from him."

"Really? What was it he was planning to do?" Draco asked, no longer seeming guilty but curious. Maybe a little too curious.

"I can't say." Hermione said sadly, as if she really wanted to tell him but couldn't. Draco clenched a fist and took a step closer to her. She had to use all of her self-control to not back away from him, feeling as if he were trying to intimidate her. She hesitantly looked at his eyes and saw how they were practically gleaming with excitement. She tried not to feel disgusted that he was somehow getting a kick out of knowing Ron could be suffering.

"Come on Daph', you can tell-" Draco insisted, and she stomped her foot in frustration, channeling her real anger into her performance.

"No, I mean I literally can't say. I-I had to make the Unbreakable Vow," She registered his shocked expression and tightened her ponytail, "which is why I'm being so vague but – whatever it is he wanted from Weasley, he can only do himself so until the – the Dark Lord can do that, he has to make sure no-one else gains what he wants from him and so, as a way for me to prove my dedication to the Dark Lord, I volunteered to keep an eye on him. I thought it made more sense for me to act as his girlfriend so it wouldn't seem so odd for me to do that."

She let out the breath she'd been holding and deliberately thought of a sad memory so she'd start welling up. She pressed her lips together, as if she were trying to keep them at bay while Draco exhaled slowly, the information sinking in.

"I obviously would tell you more if I could, but I can't without risking...you know I would, don't you Draco?" She asked, and he looked at her glassy eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, 'course I do." He answered, and a tear trailed down her cheek.

"Could you-could you do me a favour ?" She asked hesitantly, and he nodded instinctively.

"Anything."

"Could you tell the others to back off the relationship? I've already gotten some strange looks off Pansy and Blaise and while I'd like to tell them, really the less people that know about it the better – obviously I can't risk Weasley discovering it- but I just think you have more influence over them then I do and-"

"Sure, no problem."

"Thanks, Draco. I owe you one." She said gratefully, and he smiled uncomfortably at her. He turned around and headed towards the door. He stopped walking with his hand on the handle when he glanced back at her, hesitantly voicing his thoughts,

"Was – was it really you who volunteered?"

Her eyebrows shot up as she hadn't expected him to ask that and had to give herself a second to think of a plausible answer.

"I had too. It was the only thing I could do to protect my family and I'd do anything for them."

She thought it was possible as the Greengrass's did seem to care about their family a great deal. The whole reason she was even in this position was because their parents were trying to protect Daphne and Astoria. When she saw his shocked expression though, she was beginning to doubt her answer so she asked, "You can understand that, right?"

"More than you know." He said, before his expression went into complete fear as he realised what he said. He abruptly left the room, leaving Hermione with a thousand questions plaguing her mind but she knew she couldn't answer any of them as she had to get to her next class.

* * *

><p>The rest of the day passed as if it were any other day at Hogwarts. Admittedly the teachers were a little tenser than usual but the lessons remained very much the same, something Hermione was internally thankful for. What she didn't do was act as herself but she'd been expecting that so it wasn't such a daunting prospect. In a way, it was remarkably easy during lessons as all she had to do was not answer the questions and did a minimal amount of work. The hardest part was when she was interacting with Daphne's friends but so far, it seemed as if she was doing a reasonable job of that. Even the deducive Eva hadn't suspected anything.<p>

She still felt an enormous amount of relief though when she walked into her room with Ron, knowing she wouldn't have to show herself for the rest of the evening. She closed the door and quickly cast a 'Muffliato' around the room before she fell back on the bed. Ron sat next to her and didn't hesitate in asking what Malfoy had wanted. She re-told him the explanation she'd given to Draco and was just coming to the end of it,

"It was odd though when I said I was doing it for my family because he said he understood that completely. Do you know if he was very close with his parents?"

"Not really, I kind of got the impression him and father dearest never got along that well." Ron replied, giving the answer Hermione had expected.

"What about him and his mum though?" She asked, taking her hair out of the ponytail it'd been in. Ron thought about it for a moment and ran a hand through his hair.

"I don't know, he never really mentioned her all that much. At least not in public. Actually the only time I've seen him with her was last year at the station, when I was with you and they were having that argument." Ron admitted.

"I guess it would be too much for us to judge their entire relationship based upon that one singular event, wouldn't it?" She said hopefully, and Ron smiled sympathetically.

"Guess it would."

She let out an aggravated sigh, taking off her shoes and tried to explain more,

"But he must obviously care about them, at least a little, he just sounded so...genuine when he said it, you know? And it's not as if he needed to lie to me about it. He actually looked a little scared after, as if he was afraid he'd admitted too much."

"Do you..." Ron started hesitantly, looking conflicted and she furrowed her brows at him.

"What?" She asked, giving him her full undivided attention.

"Do you think that – you know what, forget it. It's stupid." He said embarassed, causing her to frown.

"I highly doubt that." She stated, and he looked at her. She smiled encouragingly at him, giving him the confidence he needed.

"Well, do you think then maybe that whole thing he was upto last year – whatever that was – when he got the Death Eaters and You Know Who into Hogwarts, could that have been him protecting his family? Like he'd been forced to do it?" Ron suggested apprehensively, and Hermione's jaw dropped. She couldn't believe she hadn't considered that, it was so obvious. Maybe that's why she hadn't considered it though. Usually, everything had to be so complicated and have an obscure explanation for it – but maybe, this one time, it didn't have to be.

"That's actually really likely. Yes, that would make perfect sense and, if his situation is at all similar to the one I'm pretending to be in, then maybe he was doing the exact same thing as me." She said, turning towards Ron, her mind reeling with this new information. Ron beamed at her, glad that he'd actually done something right for once.

"Doing something to prove to You Know Who where his support was?" He said enthusiastically, glad that they were getting somewhere.

"Exactly. Why did you think that was stupid? It's actually the most plausible explanation." She said honestly, disappointed that he still thought so little of himself.

"I don't know, seemed too obvious or convenient, I don't know." He shrugged it off and quickly changed the subject, "It's just so frustrating that we don't know what the hell he was upto last year, or why Snape was involved."

"I know." She said in the exact same tone.

"Even if he was after me, well, why me? I don't get it! I haven't done anything to draw that kind of attention to myself. I've been invisible here for six years and now all of a sudden I'm so important? I just ugh.." He exclaimed, and fell back against the bed so he was lying down. Hermione stared at her hands – well, Daphne's hands – that were in her lap and took a deep breath, unsure if what she was about to say was the best idea.

"Ron, I can't imagine what this must be doing to you but, please don't get angry, but do you think that maybe you're being in this house could have something to do with it?"

She looked over at him and saw he had his eyes closed, as if he were trying to block out the rest of the world. It took him awhile to answer but when he did, he couldn't hide how uncomfortable the conversation was making him.

"I don't know. I can't see why it would."

She shifted her position so she was still sat up but was facing him and tucked her hair behind her ears, forgetting she didn't have to do that with her straight hair.

"It's just, I know I haven't been here that long but I'm already noticing how out of place you are here. I know not everyone's as 'evil' as Slytherin's stereotypically known for but, a lot of the traits they have you don't seem too, so I can't help but wonder if there's more significance behind it." She rambled nervously, and he slowly opened his eyes, looking at her intensely. She chewed her lip, her eyes never leaving his. He didn't know why but it struck him how strange she looked in that moment. It was the first time she was acting as herself while being Daphne and a small smile appeared on his face. He hadn't realised how much he'd missed her, even if it had just been two days with her being this way. The concern she felt for him was shining through her eyes and all she was trying to do was help him, so the least he could do was make this easier for her.

"If that is true, then why now? Why not six years ago when I was first put into this house?"

Not knowing how to answer, she immediately thought she'd have to do some research. It was possible that Ron's situation wasn't so unusual. Maybe there were more people throughout Hogwarts' history that had felt as if they were placed in the wrong house and went through the rest of the years in the school in that house. Considering how long Hogwarts had been open it could have happened before. Then maybe there was actually nothing that important with Ron and it had all just been a coincidence.

Somehow she knew that wasn't the case though, but she still felt better from thinking it could be possible. She promised herself that she would go to the library and do some more research about the Hogwarts house's whenever she could.

Her thought process broke suddenly when she felt a sharp pain shooting through her bones. She immediately gasped and screwed her face up in anguish. Immediately Ron sat upright again so she could grip onto his hand. Even though she'd already been through the process before, it didn't make it any less painful.

The sensation passed after a minute or so and once she caught her breath, she opened her eyes. She looked down at her hands to see they matched her usual skin tone. Her clothes were too tight and when she ran her fingers through her hair, she was pleased to feel that it's normal curly, slightly frizzy texture. She smiled and looked over at Ron, who had a similar smile of his own on his face.

"Much better." He commented, his eyes raking over her, as if he were drinking her in. She beamed at him, unintentionally squeezing his hand that she still had a hold on. She leant forward and kissed him tenderly, having wanted to do that all day but couldn't until then. Ron had said he was uncomfortable kissing her as Daphne so she'd respected that. But now, she wasn't Daphne so she could give into all her desires.

He returned the kiss enthusiastically, parting her lips with his tongue, his hands gliding around her body to the small of her back. Chills spread through her as she reveled in the sensation of his tongue massaging hers. She wound her arms around his neck, pressing herself against him completely, tilting her head in a way which gave him more access to her mouth.

She wasn't sure how long they were kissing for. All she knew was that the longer it continued for the hotter and heavier it became until the point where she was breaking out into a sweat, her clothes becoming unbearably tight. She was more than tempted to just rip them off her but didn't for obvious reasons. When she also considered how that would mean she'd have to move out of the position they were currently in, it became unthinkable.

They were now lying on her bed with him on top of her, their clothes ruffled as they were a tangle of limbs. His hands were practically burning through her where they rested on her sides. They slowly ghosted upwards and her breath hitched when she felt the tips of his fingers alongside her breasts. He kissed his way to her ear where he lightly nibbled on her earlobe, making her gasp as it sent a jolt straight to her centre which was already pulsating strongly.

"Can I?" He mumbled huskily, his thumb lightly running a little higher over the side of her breast causing her nipples to stiffen. She swallowed, feeling parched, and tightened her hold on his shirt.

"Yeah." She replied, licking her lips in anticipation. His hand instantly cupped her breast and she held her breath, her heart racing. The warmth from his palm was spreading through her, especially in her stomach and when she felt him run his thumb over the top of her nipple, even though there was some material between them, she couldn't hold back a moan. She'd never realised how sensitive she was there as goosebumps rose on her skin and she arched her back a little, pushing herself into his hand more.

She hadn't expected to react so strongly to him, typically thinking this was something for his benefit rather than hers. It hadn't escaped her notice that most boys were particularly interested in them. But, it just felt so good that all she craved was far more of his touch.

When she felt his tongue dart out and lick the skin behind her ear, she instinctively tried to clamp her legs together as a way to relieve herself, but as he was settled between them, it forced his hips to grind against hers instead. Her breath caught in her throat, her entire body overwhelmed by how hot she was. When he continuously massaged her breast while grinding his hips into hers, she was positive her knickers were soaked through. She let out an embarassingly loud moan while his other hand started reflecting his minstrations on her other breast. Her toes curled from how painfully aroused she was and she swore that if she didn't get some attention where she needed it, she'd go insane.

She wasn't ready to take that step yet though. She didn't want to rush into anything and regret it later, so she softly pushed him and he lifted his head up, revealing how flushed he was.

"Too much?" He said, sounding as if he had a dry throat and she blushed.

"Yeah, is that okay?" She asked hesitantly, and he frowned.

"'Course it is, 'Mione – I don't want to feel as if you're pressured into anything." He said, suddenly worried that she might have gained that impression.

"Oh no, I don't feel that way." She replied, shaking her head.

"Good cause I'd never-"

"I know."

"Good."

"Good."

He rolled off her and lay by her side. She glanced over at him, feeling her heart rate slow to a much calmer level, as she noticed the amount of colour there was in his face and it reminded her of what she'd been meaning to ask him about all day.

"Why didn't you sleep last night? I mean - was what Eva said true? Not necessarily about Daphne's sister but about me, in general." She asked, and his ears turned bright red while he looked down shyly.

"Yes, it was true." He mumbled, and she smiled softly at him, turning onto her side.

"That's sweet of you, Ron but I don't want you worrying so much." She said warmly.

"I know, I can't help it though. I...really don't know what I'd do if something happened to you."

"Nothing is going to happen to me, okay?" She insisted, palming his cheek.

"Okay." He replied, still looking slightly skeptical but she figured that was the best she was going to get and kissed him softly for reassurance. Not wanting it to get too heated again, she pulled away shortly after and smiled softly at him. He returned it and she rested her head on his chest, curling her body against his. He wrapped an arm around her and kissed the top of her head, making her smile more.

Despite how chaotic, cruel and confusing everything was, Hermione was grateful that she at least had him.

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><p><strong>A:N EDIT: I'm really sorry to those who had to read this in italics. I have no idea why but fanfiction's got into the habit of putting the chapters I upload into italics for the whole length of it for no apparent reason. It doesn't show up like it in doc manager so I really don't understand why it changes when I upload the chapter into my fic. If anyone can tell me why this keeps happening I'd be really appreciative for it as I don't want to have to keep re-uploading the chapter every week.**

**So inklings of smut are starting to creep in now, what'd you guys think of it? I've never really drifted into this territory of writing before so I am slightly self-concious about it so I'd appreciate some feedback on that.**

**Also, I hope nobody's too bothered that I took the liberty in creating a few OCs here. I just figured there were more Slytherins that Hermione, Ron and Harry knew about in the canon universe so it seemed natural to add some more in. I'm also hoping to create more of a range of Slytherins now (not exactly hard to see that so far, aside from Ron, the way I've portrayed them has been stereotypically evil and I'm starting to feel guilty about that as I know that's not the case for all of them). That said, Eva is heavily inspired by a pretty popular character in fiction that I don't even think needs mentioning but she won't appear as such a carbon copy of that character in future chapters, as I do plan on giving her and Ingrid more depth.**

**For those of you hoping for action, you're definitely getting it in the next chapter. I'll leave it at that.**

**Thanks again for all the feedback, alerts, favourites. I'm still astounded by the sheer amount of it all and I'm always grateful for it all.**


	30. Chapter 30

**Link to song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=ymJvCqECR44**

**You know what to do.**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 30

Instinct

"_You're in my veins_

_And I cannot get you out_

_You're all I taste_

_At night inside of my mouth."_

_In My Veins – Andrew Belle_

Hermione was in the library, books surrounding her at the desk she was sat at. She'd only been there for an hour but it was strange how at home she felt. It was as if she were her old-self again and wasn't having to be Daphne. She could be herself when it was just her and her books. She'd even managed to find her old table at the back of the library which luckily no-one else had claimed yet.

The books she'd taken ranged vastly with their content, but none of them were beneficial to her specifically. She was researching for both Ron and Harry. For Harry, she was trying to find out more about Horcruxes. While she knew there was no feasible way for her to contact him with the new information (if she found any) she'd at least know herself. And, she didn't know what Harry's plans were. For all she knew, they could run into eachother or he might send her a letter. If that did happen, she'd be able to show how she was of some use to him, even though she wasn't with him. It also helped her own peace of mind if she researched it.

For Ron, it was an entirely different matter. She was following through with the promise she made to herself and was researching on the Hogwart's houses.

"Hi, I thought I'd find you here." Ron greeted, a smile on his face as he made his way over to her table.

"Hello, I'm just doing a bit of research." She answered, looking up at him briefly to smile at him before returning her attention to the book in front of her. He sat down next to her, dropping his bag to the floor, his eyebrows rising at the amount of books there were. True, he was used to her reading heavily but this was a bit excessive, even for her.

"A bit?" He said in mock disbelief, and she rolled her eyes at him. He glanced over some of the books before realising exactly what she was researching and no longer felt the need to question her any further about why she was doing it. "Find anything interesting?"

"Not really. Everything I have found I've already known." She grumbled, closing the book she had been reading and added it to the pile she'd finished with. "What's odd is how it's been a lot easier to find the darker information I needed. It's as if the restricted section is no longer restricted since anyone can pick a book like this up." She commented, holding up a book which had a particularly gruesome image on the front with a man appearing to be tortured.

"Suppose that's the influence of the Carrows and Snape for you." He said grimly, and she let out a long sigh.

"I knew this year was going to be different, but I honestly had no idea it would be so-" She started.

"-sinister." Ron finished, and she bit her lip, nodding. He fidgeted in his seat, hesitating before asking, "Did you hear that screaming the other night?"

"Yes, Eva told me they were only first years." Hermione said grimacing, wondering if she'd ever be able to stop imagining the sounds of their torture.

Sensing how uncomfortable the conversation was making her, he sought to change the subject but his mind drew a blank. He glanced around him for inspiration and he smiled lopsidedly. "Do you remember how much time we spent in here last year?"

She returned the smile and he looked back at her as she said, "Yes, all those hours of tutoring."

"You were a good tutor you know." He admitted, and she scoffed.

"You have to say that."

"I'm being serious, I did learn a lot. Even if you were bossy at times." He said cheekily, and she playfully hit his arm.

"I was not!" She denied.

"You were too – making me do three hours worth of work without a single break, practically cruel of you." He retorted, making her hit him again and he chuckled.

"I hardly think that was cruel." She answered, her smile never leaving her face. They hadn't bickered in awhile and she'd forgotten how much fun it could be.

"Oh really? What would you say you hitting me is then?" He retorted, making her jaw drop.

"Now that's not fair, I never hit you when I was tutoring you."

"Even now some people might say it's mean of you though."

"I doubt it, it's not as if I'm hurting you, is it?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

"Besides the point, how would you like it if I did it to you?" He replied.

"Well, you wouldn't."

"What if it was my own form of it?"

"What do you mean – what are you – ah! Ron! Stop it!" She exclaimed, laughing hysterically as he mercilessly tickled her ribs. He'd stood up and was leaning over her from behind while she squealed, squirming underneath his fingers so much that she was nearly falling out of her chair.

She didn't know how long he was doing it for but it was long enough for her to start crying with laughter and the only reason he stopped was because Madam Pince had rounded a corner and glared at him furiously.

"This is a library! Either get on with your work quietly or leave!" She snapped, and Hermione instantly silenced herself as Ron sat down shyly. The pair of them started packing away and the older woman stomped off back to her desk. Ron and Hermione glanced at one another, both of them suppressing their laughter.

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><p>Days passed and it became clear that things were only going to get worse as time went on. When Hermione learnt what they did to the students in detention, she genuinely felt sick to her stomach. It was something that Filch was in great favour for, instead of having them clean various rooms. The detentions ranged with what they had to do, but they all inflicted some sort of physical pain upon the student so Hermione didn't want to know the specifics. She didn't think she'd be able to sleep at night if she did know, and it was hard enough for her already.<p>

She was wondering whether it was possible for it to get any worse when she was in Defence Against the Dark Arts, with the Carrows stood at the front of the class, about to announce what they were doing for the lesson. Judging from the excited gleam in their eyes and genuinely full smiles, she knew it couldn't be anything good.

"Now, you've spent the past couple of weeks researching the use of the 'Unforgivable' curses and we think it's high time that you all prove you've learnt this information." Amycus disclosed, making a sense of dread fill a lot of the students.

"So, we think there is only one way you can prove what you've learnt and that is by performing the curses yourselves." Alecto continued, and there was immediate disruption in the class. Most of them were outwardly refusing to do it while others were actually looking forward too it.

"Silence!" Amycus snapped, but it had no effect. In fact, it actually caused more chaos as Seamus stormed out the room. Amycus instantly went after him and when they heard the sound of his screams echoing throughout the hall and into the room, they all fell silent immediately.

A few minutes later, Amycus came back into the room, dragging Seamus in by his arm, who looked severely shaken and pale. He could barely walk and his face masked one of complete agony as he fell into his chair next to Neville.

Hermione bit her lip anxiously, her worry overcoming her better judgement as she slipped into an old habit of hers rather than Daphne's. She unconciously found Ron's hand underneath the table, both of them gripping onto eachother tightly.

"Right then, now that everything's settled, you all will be performing an Unforgivable whether you like it or not. If you fail to perform one or refuse too, you will recieve the same punishment that Mr Finnigan was just put under. Once you have performed an Unforgivable you may leave the class, and only then will you be able to leave. You will stay here for as long as it takes to get you to perform it. Any questions?" Alecto explained strictly, her eyes looking over the class suspiciously.

Hermione saw out the corner of her eye that it was Ingrid who was raising her hand with extreme caution.

"Yes?" Alecto snapped impatiently.

"W-who will we be performing them on?" She asked, her voice wavering in fear.

"First years. Any other questions?" She said, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Hermione had to physically bite down on her tongue to avoid shouting out. She felt Ron grip her hand even more, causing her gaze to shoot towards him and she guessed by his tensed jaw that he was clenching a fist with his free hand.

As no-one asked anymore questions, Alecto left the room, presumably to fetch the first years, and everyone looked nervously around at eachother, too afraid to speak. It lasted a minute at the most as Alecto strolled back in with some young students trailing behind her. All of them already looked as if they'd gone through the process before, since they were trying to be as small as possible and were sweating profusely. They lined up at the front, their gaze downcast but from the angle Hermione was sat at, she could see how some of them had tears trailing down their cheeks.

"Line up! The people at the front, stay at the front! No excuses!" Amycus exclaimed, and Hermione begrudgingly stood up with Ron. She'd never been more happy that she'd chosen to sit close to the back of the room. In a way, the system worked out since the more eager people were seated closer to the front any way.

"Keep in mind that you have to mean the curse! If you don't put any effort behind it, it won't work!" Alecto snapped, as Hermione found herself standing behind Neville, Ron's hand still clasped in hers.

"What are we going to do?" She whispered, not even attempting to try and hide how terrified she was. She suddenly felt as if she'd been emersed into a pool of ice, her whole body trembling violently while she broke out into a cold sweat. She'd been in many life threatening situations but the thought of her potentially putting someone else's life at risk was a far more fearful thing at that moment.

"I don't know, fake it?" Ron suggested half-heartedly, sounding just as scared as she was. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down so she could think properly. It was clear that using the Imperius curse would be the simpler of the two options, because she could just have the student do something simple like jump on top of a desk. But, would the Carrows let her get away with something so little? Would they force her to do something worse to them?

"Crucio!" She heard someone exclaim, making her tense all over, until she realised there was no scream after it.

"Come on Blaise, you have to mean it! Give it one more try!" Amycus encouraged, making Hermione pale.

"What's their blood status?" Blaise asked, and Hermione grimaced.  
>"They're all half-bloods." Alecto answered enthusiastically, sounding pleased that Blaise had asked that.<p>

"Crucio!"

They heard a short, sharp squeal from one of the girls which made Alecto clap with glee.

"Well done! It takes awhile to get used to the intensity needed behind it, but that's sufficient enough for now. Next person!" Amycus exclaimed happily. Everyone shuffled forward begrudgingly and Hermione looked over at Ron, wanting some support. When she noticed how sickly he looked, it only scared her more.

This continued for awhile, with those who actually wanted to perform the Unforgivable on the first years or were simply too cowardly to rebel. At the same time, Hermione was starting to feel more and more disgusted not only with them, but with herself. She was just stood still, letting it happen. Despite how only Blaise and another Slytherin had performed the cruciatus curse, the others opting to use the imperius so only two of the first years had been hurt, she still hated herself. But she just couldn't see any logical solution in how they would get out of this safely. She wracked her mind for a plausible way out but failed. She was panicking too much to come up with anything.

Hermione knew the first Gryffindor was at the front when she heard nothing being cast.

She felt someone poke her in the back, breaking her out of the daze she'd been in, so she turned around and her eyes widened seeing Ingrid, who looked as if she was on the verge of tears.

"Ingrid! What-" Hermione said alarmed, and Ingrid took in a shuddering breath.

"I can't do this Daph'. You know that Andrew is the same age as them and one of those kids is a friend of his. I can't – it's just sick!" She spluttered, her tears spilling over, causing her mascara to run down her cheeks. Hermione placed a hesitant hand on the girl's shoulder, trying to be comforting but didn't know how to. She guessed this Andrew she was referring to was her little brother.

"Rictusempra!" Someone at the front exclaimed, and there was an eruption of giggles coming from one of the younger students.

"No, that is not what we-" Alecto shouted, to be heard over the laughter but it stopped abruptly as the person who performed it ran out the room. Hermione caught a glance of them and saw it was Parvati who'd been brave enough to do it. A few people followed suit as there were more shouts of the tickling charm, followed by more laughter, before they were running out the room.

Not knowing what to do, the Carrows shouted orders but were ignored. They tried cursing a few students but they were too quick as they were out the room before the Death Eaters could get a decent aim. Students had now stopped casting the tickling charm altogether and were just running out the room.

"Come on." Ron exclaimed, Hermione's hand still clasped in his as he darted forward, away from the exit. Hermione had instinctively taken Ingrid with her too and they were both about to ask him what he was planning when she heard him bellow, "Stupefy!"

Not expecting it, Alecto was lifted off her feet from the force of the spell and crashed against the wall unconcious. Amycus looked as if he were about to curse Ron but hesitated before aiming at Hermione instead.

"Expelliarmus!" Hermione shouted, and the wand went flying out of the Death Eater's hand. "Stupefy!"

Amycus dodged it, trying to get to his wand, rendered useless without it, but it was Ingrid who thought quickly and exclaimed,

"Incarcerous!"

Ropes shot out of her wand and wrapped themselves around Amycus's legs, causing him to topple over.

"Stupefy!" Hermione spat, and the man stilled. Hermione was about to ask Ron what he was planning when he turned towards the six young students.

"Okay, you have to come with us." Ron said, all of them looking petrified.

"Don't worry, we'll get you somewhere safe." Hermione said urgently, unsure as to how long it would take for someone to realise what they'd done.

Ingrid stood still, her mouth agape as if she couldn't believe what she'd just done.

The first years glanced at one another briefly before deciding it would be better to trust Ron and Hermione than stay where they were and nodded.

"All right, which of you were-were crucioed?" Ron asked, finding it painful to get the words out. The three boys and girl in front moved so the two girls who had been put under the torture curse could move forward. Both of them looked as if they were seconds from passing out and one of them actually had vomit on the front of their robes as they'd been through so much pain.

Ingrid was pulled out of her daze when she saw the girl with light blonde hair and gazed at her sympathetically.

"Okay, okay, do you think one of you would be able to get on my back?" Hermione asked, having to think quickly.

"Yes, Penelope, you-you remember me right?" Ingrid said, crouching down to Penelope's level. The younger girl frowned, swaying on her feet while every part of her shook violently. "I'm Andrew's sister, we met over the summer."

Penelope appeared to recognise her then as she gave a slight nod and Ingrid didn't hesitate in giving her a short kiss on the forehead and brushed the hair away from her face.

"You're going to be okay." She said strongly.

"Her-Daphne, I'll take the girl on my back. You have to take your medication." Ron said, nearly slipping up from the stress of the situation. Hermione had to think about what he was saying for a moment before realising what he was talking about. She didn't question how he remembered it but hurried over to her bag, starting to feel a sharp pain in her wrist. She messily searched through her bag before grabbing hold of the flask and took an enormous gulp. The pain dissipated immediately and she put it away, throwing her bag over her shoulder, knowing she couldn't possibly leave it without someone discovering the contents inside.

During the time it took for her to take the potion, Ron and Ingrid had managed to get the two hurt girls on their backs, with the assistance of the other first years. Hermione shared a look with Ron and he didn't even need to say anything because they were all running out the door as fast as their legs could carry them. The first years who'd luckily only felt the effects of a tickling charm or an unharmful Imperio kept up with them.

"Where are we going?" Ingrid asked breathlessly.

"Need to find, NEVILLE!" Ron exclaimed, as they rounded a corner. Neville turned around, recognising Ron's voice, and Hermione saw how he'd been tending to an unconcious Seamus. She guessed he couldn't endure the lingering pain from being crucioed and had passed out while trying to run away.

Ron, Hermione, Ingrid and the first years were next to them in a flash and they hadn't even stopped to take a breath before Ron was saying,

"Right, Neville, where were you heading?"

"The hospital wing, he's going to need some pain medication or something." Neville said, looking down at Seamus concerned.

"That'll be no good. The Carrows will just come after him for information on where the class went and torture him again. Can you levitate him and take him upto the Room of Requirement? Just think of a safe place to stay too heal. Daphne and I will head to the hospital wing and get all the potions you'll need. Ingrid, you go with them with Penelope and the first years. Neville, could you take this one on your back for me?" Ron explained hurriedly, gently setting the girl he had been carrying onto the ground. She clung onto Ron's arm, now appearing as if she'd just awoken. Her eyes looked impossibly huge in fear as she stared at him. "You'll be okay, Neville will take care of you. He's going to get you somewhere safe."

"Yeah, you can trust me." Neville said encouragingly, stepping towards her while Ingrid levitated Seamus's body. The young girl looked apprehensively at Neville and clung onto Ron even more, whimpering from the pain it caused her to do it.

"It'll be all right, I'll be back to check on you, okay?" He said, smiling at her and she swallowed, eventually nodding. She climbed onto Neville's back and he hooked his arms beneath her legs.

"How are you getting the potions?" Neville asked, looking suspiciously at Hermione, since he was under the impression she was Daphne.

"We'll steal them if we have too." Hermione said so confidently that Neville couldn't question her intentions. He nodded, seemingly happy with her response.

"Be as quick as you can." He said, before sprinting off with the first years trailing behind him. Ingrid turned towards Hermione, looking as if she had no idea what to say. She glanced between Ron and her, a smile slowly spreading across her face.

"Can certainly tell what you see in him now." She commented lightly, and despite the situation, Hermione found herself laughing at the comment. Ingrid didn't waste another second as she sprinted off with Seamus's levitated body beside her and Penelope on her back.

When it was just the two of them in the corridor, Hermione turned towards Ron and he took hold of her hand. They both smiled at one another reassuringly and took off once more in the direction of the hospital wing.

Luckily for them, Madam Pomfrey had become far more sympathetic under the new circumstances and they only had to say the words 'hurt' before she was bustling around the hospital wing, grabbing every possible potion they could ever need. Hermione put a quick undetectable extensioning charm on her bag and placed them all in her bag. The healer only said for them to 'Stay safe' before they were out the door, hurrying up to the Room of Requirement. Ron thought of a safe place too heal three times and a door appeared. They stepped inside to find a large room, full of beds with a couple of doors leading to some other rooms, but their attention was drawn to the three occupied beds.

Hermione dug through her bag and pulled out all the potions she'd been given, careful to make sure her own didn't get mixed up with them. She sorted them into the categories for pain and sleeping medication, while Neville looked through her potions book to see if any of the potions couldn't be mixed for unwanted side effects.

It was taking her longer then planned to sort the potions out as it was difficult for her to read Madam Pomfrey's writing since she'd labelled them in a hurry. She couldn't help but over hear the conversation Ron was having with the young girl who'd grown attached to him.

"You were so brave earlier." He said to her, sat at the end of her bed by her feet. It looked as if she was using all of her strength to keep her eyes open.

"Is it meant to hurt this much?" She asked, tears leaking out of her eyes and he sighed.

"I'm sorry. I promise it won't hurt much longer. If you try not to think about it though, it won't hurt as much." He said empathetically. She moaned, crying even more.

"What's your name?" She asked feebly.

"Ron, what's yours?"

"Alice."

"Alice, that's a nice name." He commented, as something struck him. "Actually, you know what- hey, Daphne."

Hermione looked over at him and he asked, "What's that famous muggle book with the girl called Alice?"

"Alice in Wonderland?" Hermione suggested, and the younger girl's eyes brightened up.

"I've heard of that book. My mum used to read it to me before I went to sleep." She said, her voice managing to sound louder.

"Can you tell me a little about it?" Ron asked, a warm smile on his face as he looked genuinely curious.

Alice managed to laugh a little before saying, "It's a little hard to explain. There's so many characters in it and it doesn't make much sense a lot of the time."

"Okay then, who's your favourite character?" Ron said, determined to keep Alice's mind off of the pain she was in. Meanwhile, Hermione had finished sorting the potions so she went over to Ingrid and Penelope, explaining which potion to take and how to take it.

"The Mad Hatter." Alice answered eventually. Ron blinked a few times, having not expected a character's name to be that, and his expression made Alice laugh. Hermione smiled hearing it before telling Neville the same information for the potions, thinking he'd be there when Seamus woke up.

"Huh, he sounds...interesting." Ron said, and Alice laughed again as Hermione walked over to them.

"Here you go, Alice." She said softly, carrying two potions. "Now this one will help with the pain, you need to have a few gulps of it" Hermione instructed, handing the bottle to her and Alice did as she said. "Okay, this one will help you sleep but you need to have a glass of it. It's best to drink it all in one go because you'll fall asleep quicker then." Alice obeyed her and handed the empty glass to Hermione, laying her head back down on the pillow.

It only took a few seconds for her eyes to become heavy and she smiled dreamily.

"Ron?" She mumbled.

"Yeah?"

"You're really nice. Thank you." And with that, her eyes closed and she was fast asleep.

Hermione smiled softly down at her and turned her attention to Ron. He was also smiling and it took him awhile to realise that she was staring at him. When he did, he looked at her perplexed.

"What?" He said sniggering.

"You reallly have no idea how brilliant you are, do you?" She said, and he frowned, trying to work out what he'd done to gain such a compliment. She smiled at him lovingly and was about to kiss his cheek when they heard the door open. She flashed herself around, knowing no-one else should be in the room, but let out a relieved sigh seeing it was Eva. She was about to ask her why she was there when Ingrid beat her too it.

"Eva, what are you doing here?"

"How did you get in here?" Neville asked suspiciously, and Eva rolled her eyes as she walked in some more.

"Honestly, if I was going to stab you all in the back I would have done it by now and wouldn't have wasted my time coming up here." She snapped, and Hermione furrowed her eyebrows.

"That doesn't exactly answer the question." Hermione said, and Eva sighed dramatically.

"It's simple. I was going to the Carrows to hand in an essay I'd finished early because I had nothing better to do, and saw them lying unconcious on the ground. It didn't take a lot for me to guess what had happened as they'd left their lesson plans on the desk. Everyone had left their belongings behind so the only explanation was that you'd all run off, probably too scared to perform an unforgivable, and had managed to knock the Carrows out before." Eva explained, and paused, her gaze switching from Hermione to Ingrid. Her eyes lingered on Ingrid a little and for the first time, Hermione thought she saw a flicker of emotion in them.

"Despite how it may seem, I do actually care about your well beings. I'm talking about Ingrid and Daphne here, I honestly couldn't care less about any of the rest of you - so I knew if and when the Carrows woke up, they wouldn't rest until they sought out their perpetrators through any means possible. As I knew you both had been in the class before, I couldn't let that happen so I took the liberty in confunding them both for you so that they'll have no recollection of any of you rebelling. I removed the ropes from around Amycus's legs and moved him so he was sat up at the desk. I then moved Alecto into the adjoining office and sat her at the desk in there.

"Knowing they'd be suspicious finding all your belongings, I put them all in the storing cupboard close by before clearing up the vomit and little blood on the floor. After that, I woke up Amycus, saying it appeared as if he'd fallen asleep from the amount of work he'd been doing, and handed him the essay I was originally going to give to him. Given there's no other explanation for what happened to them, they'll have to accept that they both fell asleep at their desks." Eva took a breath here before continuing her explanation at a rapid pace. "I deduced from the sick and blood that there'd been an injury so I naturally headed towards the hospital wing, but was surprised to see no-one was there. I asked Pomfrey if anyone had visited, specifically any seventh year Gryffindors or Slytherins, so she told me that she'd given some potions to some students and that they were finding a safe place for some injured first years. Anyone who's read Hogwarts A History knows about this room, and after a couple of guesses, the door appeared so here I am. I just came up here to tell you this."

Everyone was rendered speechless by Eva's explanation for a good few minutes as they digested the information. Hermione tightened the ponytail her hair was in while Neville cleared his throat.

"Wouldn't that have taken you a long time?" Neville asked eventually, and Eva glared at him as if he'd asked an idiotic question.

"Not if you know the right spells and work efficiently." Eva answered heatedly, and Neville looked away from her awkwardly, instantly regretting the question.

"Is that really why you did it?" Ingrid asked, making Eva's confident composure falter. "For Daphne and I."

"Yes, is that really so hard to believe?" Eva retorted, sounding as if she were trying to be strong but failing. Ingrid's eyes gleamed with happiness and she had to bite her lip so her mouth wouldn't spread into a wide grin. . Eva's lips curved up into a very small, virtually unnoticeable, smile.

"Thank you. We appreciate it." Hermione said genuinely, suddenly feeling as if she were interupting a private moment between Eva and Ingrid.

"What are we going to do about the others? With the ones that...enjoyed the lesson." Neville said unsurely.

"Well they'd all already left since they performed the curse." Hermione pointed out. "And me, Ron and Ingrid were the only Slytherins in the classroom that hadn't done it, so if we keep it to ourselves then none of them should find out."

"Yeah, and none of the Gryffindors did it either so it wouldn't make sense for them to rat us out." Ingrid added.

"So if we tell the other Gryffindors not to tell anyone about it, then we should be in the clear?" Neville said hopefully, and they all looked to Eva, knowing if there was one person who could find a fault with their plan it would be her.

"It's risky but it might just work. As long as the first years don't say anything either, can you promise that?" Eva said so sternly, flashing a furious gaze towards them which was so powerful that they all obediently nodded without hesitation.

"W-we'll tell Penelope and Alice when they wake up." The blonde boy informed her.

"Good." Eva retorted. Hermione looked around and saw how Seamus, Penelope and Alice were still fast asleep and it seemed unlikely they would awake soon. It was a good thing it was Friday since they'd have the weekend to recover, but she couldn't help but wonder what they'd do when they did so she brought it to everyone's attention.

"Would it be so bad for them to stay here for the night?" One of the first years asked apprehensively in response.

"It would raise too many questions. No, once they're awake, as long as they take some pain potion, it should numb it enough for them to get back to their dormitories. If they take it easy over the weekend, keep dosing up on the potions, they should be all right." Eva said, starting to pace as she thought.

"What about food? Alice could hardly walk afterwards! There's no way she'd make it from the common room to the Great Hall!" A girl who had so far remained quiet, said frightfully.

"You'll have to help them then. I've already said the potion numbs the pain for them and there's plenty of that for them to last the weekend. As they were only under the curse for a few seconds, it'll be fine after that." Eva stated, but turned towards Seamus, who looked to be in a far worse state than the first years. "What injuries did he have when you found him?"

"His arm was broken." Neville said with a disgusted expression on his face.

"He would have been under for at least three minutes then. How far did he manage to walk before passing out?" She asked.

"Only the length of the corridor." Neville answered, frowning a little from the slightly odd question.

"Five minutes then with no rest in between. He'll have to stay in bed the whole weekend, I'm guessing you know where the kitchens are?" She said to Neville and he nodded. "Good, you'll have to bring him food for the weekend and possibly Monday too, depends on how he feels. The potion's effects will work quicker the more he rests so he should be okay by then. He'll still have to take the potion for the rest of the week but he should be able to walk around without too much discomfort, just make sure he has plenty of it. I trust you fixed his arm?"

"Yeah, first thing we did when we got him up here." Neville said instantly.

"Good." Eva said, and stopped walking. "That it then?"

She barely waited a second for someone to answer before she was heading towards the door.

"Wait! Eva!" Ingrid cried out, but either Eva hadn't heard her or was ignoring her since she continued walking. Ingrid looked conflictedly at Penelope for a moment but chased after Eva, leaving the others to look at eachother confused. None of them dwelled on it for very long as they were all preoccupied with more important matters at hand.

Hermione let out a long sigh and sat down next to Ron. She looked through her bag and took a sip of the polyjuice potion.

"We should try and get everyone's belongings back to them before anyone else finds them." She said, not wanting to think about what would happen if Filch discovered them.

"I'd rather stay here, if it's alright." Neville disclosed sheepishly, glancing nervously at Seamus's unconcious form.

"It's fine. We'll get them and bring them up here." Ron replied, looking at Hermione who nodded in agreement.

"Thanks." Neville said appreciatively, and they left.

It didn't take long for them to get the bags, since Eva had done most of their job for them as she'd already shrunk them to a pocket size when she'd moved them. They just put them all in Hermione's bag and went back to the Room of Requirement to hand them over to Neville. He said there was really no reason for them to stay much longer and that he didn't mind waiting for Seamus, Penelope and Alice to wake up. While Ron and Hermione refused at first, they eventually gave in and left.

Hermione stepped inside her room with Ron, put up the usual charms, kicked off her shoes while dropping her bag to the floor, pulled her hair out of the ponytail it was in and let out a long sigh. Ron turned towards her, smiling comfortingly at her and she walked towards him, wrapping her arms around his middle. She rested her head on his chest and his arms wrapped back around her.

"What a day." He said slowly, and she closed her eyes, feeling all the stress of the day lifting off of her.

"You were amazing." She said softly, not knowing it caused his ears turned to bright red. "Especially with Alice. What made you be like that with her?"

She felt him shrug his shoulders so she tilted her up to look at him. He glanced down at her and could tell that she wouldn't let him not answer.

"She just reminded me of Ginny, a bit." He confessed. Hermione thought about it and could see why he'd think that. Even though Alice's hair was a dark brown, she had the same sort of face as Ginny. Her cheeks were covered in freckles and she had the same button nose as her, but it was mainly her eyes that reminded her of Ginny. They were so easy to read and were incredibly expressive, exactly like Ginny's.

"I couldn't help but think about what happened to Ginny in her first year because of that and how I wasn't there for her when she needed me." Ron said, and it looked as if Hermione was about to retort when he shook his head. "No, don't say anything, I wasn't and there's no excuse for that – so when Alice was in pain, I couldn't help but feel like she was my responsibility. It's stupid I know-"

"It's not." Hermione interrupted fiercely, and he looked in her eyes. "It's perfectly understandable and the fact is, you did what you felt was right and helped her. You didn't have too but you did. In fact, you didn't have to do anything that you did today but you still did it. I meant what I said, you were amazing today, Ron."

"It wasn't anything special." He replied, a blush working it's way up his neck.

"No, it was. You thought quickly and saved those first years from an unthinkable amount of pain. You saved us from getting hurt like that too and it was because of you that we've managed to get away with it all-"

"But that was Eva, she-"

"No, who's idea was it to curse the Carrows and knock them unconcious? Yours. If you hadn't thought to do that, Eva wouldn't have done what she did and they would remember everything. You're the reason everyone is safe now."

He smiled sheepishly and wound his arms around her even more. She kissed his cheek lightly before resting her head on his chest again. She smiled, hearing his heart beat steadily increase.

"You shouldn't have such a low opinion of yourself, Ron. You are so much more than you think you are. I cherish the fact that I have you in my life each and every day." She stated admirably, burying her head into his chest more as she tightened her hold around him. She was suddenly overcome with her need to explain to him how much she adored him for what he did and it actually hurt her how he couldn't see that himself so, before she could even fully comprehend what she was doing, she'd launched into a declaration,

"You're so fiercely dedicated to everyone that you forget to think of yourself. You threw yourself into a dangerous situation today which you didn't have to do. You could have ran but you didn't, you fought to help those children even though you had no idea who they were. And you didn't even hesitate in doing it. It was instinct for you to save them, regardless of the harm it could do to you. That is something special, and it's a rare thing to find in most people. You should never underestimate yourself because of that. You're loyalty to others is one of the things I love the most about you. It's such a selfless, remarkable quality. And it's one of the many reasons why..." She stopped speaking, feeling as if she'd just been hit by a ton of bricks. Her knees nearly gave out on her while her blood surged through her veins at an impossible pace. She had to part her lips so she could take deep enough breaths as the realisation of what she had been about to say flowed through her mind repeatedly.

Of course, on some level she'd always known. Known it from the very first time she felt that small inkling of something for him. That unexplainable feeling of happiness whenever she laid eyes on him. That exhilaration he caused within her from the most fleeting of touches. That comfort she felt from his embrace. All those small feelings he evoked from her all added up to that one monumental, life-shattering realisation.

It seemed so painstakingly obvious now that she couldn't believe she'd ever not known it. It answered every question she'd ever had revolving around him. Why she'd been jealous of his relationship with Lavender. Why she'd been so depressed when she hadn't been speaking with him. Why she'd felt so terrified for him when he'd been in danger. Why she always put him before herself in every situation. Why she was so concerned for his being in Slytherin. She was in love with him.

She stared into his eyes as if she'd never seen them before since she was expriencing everything in a different light. Now that she knew how she honestly, truly felt about him, it was like the world was new again. It was a brighter, happier place and all she wanted to do was explore it's new horizons, but she wouldn't want to experience any of it without him because he was what made it so beautiful and new.

"'Why' what?" Ron asked quietly, sounding as if he was overwhelmed by her proclamation.

A sharp pain coursed through her at that moment, and she tensed in his arms, screwing her face up in anguish. She clenched his shirt in her hands as her bones shifted, her skin altered and she changed back into herself.

She didn't stop clenching his shirt until all the pain melted away and she let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. She loosened the hold she had on him and felt him tilt her chin up so she was looking up at him. He wiped away a stray tear that had seeped out of her eye while he smiled warmly at her, apparently forgetting the question he'd asked. She returned the smile and he softly stroked her cheek with his thumb. She inhaled sharply, every one of her senses coming alive suddenly, and shivered from the action.

"Beautiful." He murmured, his gaze flowing over her face, causing her to blush brilliantly while a flood of warmth filled her stomach. His thumb slid down her jawline to her neck and she swallowed, closing her eyes so she could revel in the sensation. When he was at the hollow of her throat, he flattened his hand out and slid it to the back of her neck so she naturally tilted her head up, expecting his lips to descend upon hers. She wasn't disappointed.

Maybe it was because of her recent epiphany but the sensation of it felt far more powerful than usual. She pulled his bottom lip between hers, sucking on it softly and snaked her arms around his neck so he was leaning down to her level. He seemed surprised by her enthusiasm as it took him a moment to respond but her actions were quickly having an effect on him. His grip on her tightened, seeping warmth into her skin and she ran her tongue along his bottom lip, pressing her chest against his. His lips parted and her tongue dove into his mouth. Heat flooded through her instantly upon the contact and her centre started pulsating prominently. She moaned, running her hands up into his hair while going on her toes. His hands drifted down to her bum and he pulled her up against him. Feeling his arousal, she sped up their kissing, gripping onto his hair, her heart racing. He squeezed her bum making her moan lightly as she remembered how his hands felt on other parts of her body. Her hands swept to his front where she grabbed onto his shirt so she could pull him with her as she walked back. When she felt the back of her legs hit her bed, she slowly sat down, her lips never leaving his.

They slid back on the bed with him on top of her, his hips pushing into hers while he cupped her breast. She held her breath, heat running through her and kissed him harder. She arched her back, encouraging him, her toes curling and he massaged her more. Her centre was pulsing so hard it was virtually pounding and she lightly nibbled on his lip which made him groan and press himself down onto her more. He slid his hand to the buttons of her shirt and was about to ask her if it was okay when she mumbled 'Please' in a light throaty moan he didn't think he'd ever heard before. He didn't need telling twice as he fumbled trying to undo one. With his mind fogged with lust, it suddenly seemed a lot harder. When he finally managed to do it, the others seemed to slip out of their holes until her blouse lay open. He placed his hand on the bare skin of her stomach and she flinched from the sharp jolt it sent directly to her middle. He stroked her softly as he edged his way up to her breast again. She let out a loud moan, never feeling so consumed by pleasure. She was nearly trembling with her want for him when he broke the kiss and started attacking her neck with a new vigor. It was more desperate, as his tongue darted out to lick her, occasionally nipping at her skin. Her chest was heaving with how deeply she was breathing.

She took hold of his hand, her current state throwing any embarassment she should be feeling out the window, slipping his fingers beneath her bra. He had to stop his kissing for a moment so all she felt was his hot breath against her neck and his rough fingertips brushing against her sensitive skin. She swallowed, wondering if he could feel her thundering heartbeat but when his thumb brushed over her nipple, all coherent thought left her as a fiery pleasure sparked through her. She let out a choked cry, arching her back more as he applied more pressure. He rolled and flicked her there until her legs were actually shaking with how badly she was yearning to be touched. She dug her fingers into his back and kissed him deeply, whimpering from the combination of her aching for him and the euphoria running through her veins.

When she felt his other hand on her stomach, she assumed it would travel upwards as well, but he instead kept stroking her stomach and stopped kissing her.

"I want to touch you so badly." He murmured huskily, his lips brushing against hers as he said it.

"Yes." She sighed, pressing her head back into the pillow and he stopped stroking her. She opened her eyes and saw how swollen his lips were, how flushed his skin was, how heavily he was breathing. He wanted her just as desperately as she wanted him.

"Y-you sure?" He said breathlessly, and she licked her lips, nodding.

"Yes."

He shifted a little so he didn't have as much weight on her and his gaze intensified as it drifted over her body. She instinctively looked down to make sure her blouse covered up the hideous scar that lay on the right side of her chest and let out an internal sigh of relief that it wasn't shown. Despite that, she couldn't help but feel self-concious still but that was before she caught the look in his eye as his gaze returned to her. They just shone with adoration.

"Beautiful." He said, in the exact same way as he had done before, and she beamed at him. He started stroking her stomach again which sent a series of tingles down to her middle and she instinctively shut her eyes to lose herself in the feel of it. His hand drifted lower and lower until he was underneath her skirt but on top of her knickers. "If you want me to stop just say."

She nodded, unable to speak from how breathless she was and felt him trembling a little as he lifted her knickers. Her breath hitched as he slid his hand against her pelvis until she could feel his fingers against her folds. He pressed his forehead against hers as she bit her lip in anticipation.

"You're so wet." He commented, his fingers slicking over her slit. Not knowing how to reply, she released the hold she had on her lip.

"Ron," She moaned, and he went deeper, the tips of his fingers running over her sex. Her mouth remained open while she stiffened as he rubbed her.

"Am I doing okay?" He asked hesitantly, not knowing what she wanted. She nodded again, feeling heat spread through her from her toes. He drifted a finger lower until he was hovering over where she so desired to be touched.

"Yes." She moaned, clenching his shirt in her hands while she spread her legs more. He slowly inserted a finger inside of her and she swallowed, feeling herself beginning to sweat.

"You're so fucking hot." He said in a tone which made her groan, his finger fully sheathed inside of her. He pulled it out only to thrust it back in again and she arched her back as he repeated the motion. She lost all capable thought then. She was just completely lost in what he was doing to her and the feeling it was creating inside of her.

"Faster." She pleaded, and he instantly complied. He quickened his thrusting with his hand, unintentionally creating a delicious friction between his palm and her clit. The sensation caused her to cry out every part of her feeling alive and her eyes snapped open. They instantly met his and she could feel something building up inside of her from the pit of her stomach as her legs started trembling. The intensity of his gaze felt as if he was penetrating her in an altogether very different way and she swallowed, her blood burning through her veins. Her moaning became louder while his thrusting deepened, their gaze locked the entire time. His lips crashed onto hers, his tongue swirling around hers making her whimper. Her fingers dug into his back which only increased the tempo of his actions. He added another finger to his thrusting, her hips bucking up erratically so he sunk deeper inside of her until he was pounding on a spot inside of her that drove her wild.

"Ron!" She practically screamed, having to tear her lips away from his so she could breathe. He seemed to know exactly what to do as he flicked her nub with his thumb, making her legs clamp shut, her mind going blank as she came. She saw bright lights as wave after wave of pleasure flowed through her while she pulsed around his fingers. He kept up with his thrusting and flicking as she rode out her orgasm until she relaxed. He pulled his fingers out of her, making her feel oddly hollow without them there, and she lay there for a few minutes, coming down from her high. Once she had, she lazily opened her eyes. He was looking at her in a way as if he'd never seen her before.

"That was amazing." He said, somehow making her blush despite what they'd just done.

"How'd you think I felt?" She responded lightly, her throat dry.

"Seriously, seeing you like that...wow." He commented, and she smiled softly at him. She looked over him and saw how he was straining against his trousers.

"Well, if I'm lucky I'll be able to see you like that." She said, not so subtley, running her hands to his front. He grinned at her but it faltered briefly.

"You don't have to just because-" He started, sounding like he was using all of his self-control to say it but she smiled at him cheekily.

"I want too." She interrupted, shifting their position so she was on top of him. Despite how weak she felt, she was beginning to feel her muscles come back to life at the prospect of what was about to happen. She leant forward and kissed him seductively, dipping her tongue into his mouth while her hand trailed down. He returned the kiss eagerly as she unbuckled him and lowered his zip. She felt him over his underwear and he let out a deep gutteral moan. He was already painfully hard but her eyes shot open at just how much she was feeling. She experimentally squeezed a little and his lips broke away from hers as he cried out, sweat glistening his skin.

"I-I probably won't last long." He admitted embarassed, cautiously opening his eyes. She smiled reassuringly at him.

"Don't hold back." She stated, and he nodded. She slipped her hand beneath his underwear and wrapped her hand around him, making him tense all over. She felt some pre-come trickle on her so when she stoked him it smoothed over her hand and he sunk his head back, the feel of her soft feminine hand becoming overwhelming.

"Bit tighter." He said, and she obliged making him moan, his hands grabbing onto her sides. She stroked him again and his legs started shaking. It didn't take much more. She stroked him a couple of times more before he was panting and barely got out, "I think I'm gonna-" when he erupted in her hand, shouting her name as he came. His face contorted into an expression of pure bliss that she marvelled at as he came undone, all the while thinking she'd managed to do that to him.

She continued her ministrations as he rode out his orgasm, like he'd done for her, and only stopped when she felt him go soft. She slipped her hand out of his underwear and he relaxed for a few minutes. When he opened his eyes, she said,

"Now, that was amazing."

He chuckled at her breathlessly and planted a small kiss on her lips.

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><p><strong>A:N For those of you that saw my panicked update about where to post this fic earlier this week, I'm still going to continue posting here but in case it ever does get deleted you can find me/it here: glowinglunatic[]livejournal[]com (copy, paste, replace closed brackets with fullstops). I haven't started posting on it yet just because I'm still trying to work out how it all works and with my last exam this Tuesday I'm a bit preoccupied too. Thanks for everyone's help though! I did look at all the sites suggested but, even though I was hesitant with it at first, this one seemed the quickest option in getting the chapters up.**

**Also, if you did review with advice and want to review this chapter, as I've deleted the update now (because of the duplicate review system on ff) could you please do it anonymously putting your username in? I learnt that the last time I put an update in before and deleted it.**

**Right, a lot happened in this chapter. I'm not sure if it was too detailed at the end but, meh, I'm happy with it.**

**Anyway, thanks for all the reviews, reading etc! I do love you all :P**


	31. Chapter 31

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=z50k367WgPs**

**You know what to do.**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 31

Blissful Rebellion

"_Heaven or hell or somewhere inbetween_

_Cross your heart and take me with you please_

_Don't go_

_Please don't go_

_Don't go without me."_

_C'est La Mort – The Civil Wars_

It became clear to Hermione that over the next few weeks, they'd managed to get away with what had happened in their Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, as Amycus and Alecto never brought it up and the Slytherins didn't suspect a thing. Eva's plan, as she'd predicted, had worked perfectly and the first years, Penelope and Alice, had healed from the attack whereas Seamus was still hurt but was making a steady recovery. And luckily, they hadn't been asked to use anymore unforgivables since becase they'd been assigned to research more specific ways of torture.

As the Carrows didn't take much notice of what the students did as long as they were silent, Hermione mainly used the time to research more about the different Hogwarts houses. She'd eventually managed to find an old edition of Hogwarts A History in the library which gave much more detail about the housing system and actually gave detailed accounts of when the Sorting Hat had made mistakes. The problem about her discovering it was how all the mistakes had been made within the first few years of Hogwart's opening, so the founders had clearly fixed whatever problem there was with the Sorting Hat then while the students were moved into the house the founders felt they belonged in. The only other time mistakes had been made were when the student at first felt that they'd been placed in the wrong house, but eventually felt as if they belonged there as they grew up. Essentially, from everything she learned, it appeared as if there had been no other case like Ron's.

She knew what she'd learnt had been important in helping her, but in a way it just made her feel worse about it because it was becoming more and more clear that the only reason Ron could be in Slytherin was for a deliberate reason. Someone had intentionally done it to him. The question was who.

Hermione found herself asking Ron that very question when they were alone in her room late one night. He ran a hand through his hair frustratedly and sighed.

"No clue." He answered tiredly. Hermione was busy taking the make-up off of her – Daphne's – face so she couldn't see how he was growing more and more frustrated.

"I thought you'd say that, because I really can't think of who would have done it. It just doesn't make any sense." She said, voicing her thoughts as they entered her mind. "I don't see why anyone would do it as a personal vendetta against you. You didn't exactly have any enemies then. I suppose Malfoy hated you on principle but he was only a first year then too and didn't know you personally, so I can't see why he would do that. Although Lucius did give that diary to Ginny although I doubt he'd be able to sneak into the castle so he'd have to ask Draco to do it if he wanted that done. It's not as if Draco could perform that kind of magic though, it's said only a really powerful wizard can manipulate the sorting hat like that."

"Yeah, I know that." He interrupted heatedly.

"I guess any of the teachers could be classed as a powerful wizard, but then again it may not have been a teacher. It could have been someone else that managed to sneak in somehow, even though that's highly improbable. What if they did what I'm doing now? What if they took on someone's identity to do it? Ugh - this is all so confusing. Maybe if we could find a way of getting hold of the sorting hat somehow. What do you think? Ron?" She said, finally turning around to look at him and saw how tense he was.

"Oh remembered me, have you?" He snapped, and she frowned.

"I-this is all about you, I don't understand how-" She said perplexed, lowering her arms to her sides.

"You don't have to talk about me as if I'm not here, or like I'm some kind of problem only you can solve." He retorted, not meeting her gaze. She blinked several times, having no idea where all of this was coming from.

"What? I wasn't!" She refuted, noticing how he was perfectly still. Despite what he was saying certainly did seem to be true, she couldn't help but feel there was something else too it. Usually when he was furious about something, he'd be doing something other than letting you know how he felt. He'd be fidgeting or running his hands through his hair or clenching his fists, but he wasn't doing any of those things.

"Yeah right. If you could have heard yourself..." He said resentfully.

"Look, I'm sorry if I sounded like that but you know all I'm trying to do is help you." She stated, and sat down next to him. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"It's just all we do is talk about this – this shit all the time and we're getting nowhere!" He spat, and she gazed at him sympathetically, understanding immediately. She took hold of his hand in both of hers and softly started stroking it. It seemed to relax him like she'd intended as he visibly calmed down.

She didn't say anything, feeling as if he needed to let this out on his own, and he closed his eyes, hanging his head low.

"I'm just so tired of not having any answers about it." He said miserably, making her heart go out to him.

"We'll get some soon." She said, trying to remain hopeful, softly stroking the back of his palm.

"But what if we don't? What if I never find out why this happened?" He questioned, looking at her for the first time. He sounded so childlike and desperate while saying it that she felt an urge to wrap her arms around him and never let go.

"We will." She said strongly.

"You don't know that." He refuted.

"And neither do you, so all we can do is at least hope we can find some – because if we don't, then what's the point in trying?" She declared, and he looked into her eyes, seeing just how earnestly she believed in what she was saying. The edges of his lips curved up and he leant forward, brushing his lips against hers. Her eyebrows shot up, this being the first time he'd kissed her with her being Daphne, but he pulled away before she could even respond.

"What was that for?" She asked, a blush rising in her cheeks. He shrugged his shoulders, a lopsided smile on his face.

"I just remembered it was you in there. Sometimes I forget, with you being her, acting like her all day." He explained, and she sighed, unintentionally hurt by the comment.

"I can't help-" She started.

"I know, I wasn't complaining because you have to do it and I'd never want you to risk..." He trailed off, not wanting to think about it and took a breath. "I just miss you being you. That's all."

A smile slowly spread across her face, and she threw her arms around him, nearly making him fall back from the impact. He caught her in his arms and she rested her head on his shoulder, squeezing him tightly, as she started welling up. She couldn't explain why she was starting to cry, since the temptation to tell him she loved him was too overwhelming. But then, she couldn't really explain why she hadn't told that yet either. When she'd discovered it, she'd been too...preoccupied with what they were doing to really tell him and since then, well, it was like he'd said. Literally, all they'd been doing was trying to solve this ongoing question of why he was in Slytherin. She knew it wasn't a real excuse for it but the truth was, she hadn't given it much thought because she hadn't let herself.

Things were already very serious between them, more so than she'd ever dreamed. It actually scared her how much she loved him, because she really had no idea what she'd do if anything happened to him. The mere thought of it was enough to cause a spark of fear to run straight through her and set her on edge. She unconciously clung onto him more as the tears pooled over. He must have felt them falling onto his shirt as he abruptly pulled away so he could look at her.

"What's wrong?" He asked instantly, his hands cupping her face. "Was it what I said earlier? I knew I shouldn't have-"

"No." She said sniggering, trying not to shiver as he gently wiped them away. "I guess I'm just a bit emotional, with everything that's happening and the stress of it all." He nodded understanding as she sniffed before looking up into his eyes, adding, "And what you just said, it – it meant a lot to me."

He smiled sheepishly, the tips of his ears going red and kissed her forehead before wrapping his arms back around her.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Ron, Hermione and Eva were sat eating breakfast in the Great Hall. Hermione had managed to butter a piece of toast and pour herself a drink yet Eva hadn't said anything. Had it been anyone else she wouldn't have thought anything of it but this was Eva. She always had something to say, constantly observing everything and making deductions about it. Today though, she had a dazed expression as she stared off into nothingness, lost in thought.<p>

Hermione frowned at her but didn't say anything, actually feeling as if she could relax a little because of it and continued eating her breakfast. She glanced over at Ron who was also looking at Eva confused but he shrugged his shoulders, thinking nothing of it finding his breakfast more important. Hermione was about to ask if something was wrong but reconsidered when she realised how it was actually a relief to not have her judging her, so she left her too it.

"Hi Ron." Ginny greeted, walking over to them. She gave Hermione a small smile that was virtually invisible as she knew she couldn't be seen being friendly with her, considering everyone else thought they barely knew eachother.

"'ey Jin." Ron replied with his mouthful, making his sister snort at him. Hermione stifled her laughter by taking a bite of her toast and Eva broke out of whatever trance she was in.

"That's attractive – anyway, can I talk to you...in private?" Ginny said, her eyes glancing over at Hermione quickly before looking back at him.

"Uur okay." He said sceptically, grabbing another mouthful of food as he stood up. Ginny started walking out while Ron and Hermione exchanged a look, neither knowing what she could want, and he followed her out. Hermione looked after them with a furrowed brow which, as Eva was now back in reality, noticed.

"She's talking about you." Eva said, making Hermione look at her. "She's probably going to try and talk him out of being with you now that you're more serious."

"How do you know that?" Hermione said abruptly, her eyes widening.

"I didn't. Your reaction just told me." Eva retorted, a smirk playing on her lips. Hermione stiffened uncomfortably which caused the smirk to widen on Eva's face.

Much to her chagrin, Hermione didn't have a chance to find out what Ginny had told Ron until the end of the day. They just hadn't been alone enough too discuss it without being overheard so it wasn't till their patrol that he could tell her.

"Basically, Neville is starting up Dumbledore's Army again." Ron said in a hushed tone, as they walked closely together down a corridor. Hermione mentally thanked him for waiting to tell her because she knew she wouldn't have been able to mask her surprise if she tried.

"Wha- that, that's, that-" She stammered.

"Brilliant." He suggested, and she beamed.

"Yes! That's exactly what everyone needs. More people need to learn to defend themselves and this is a great way of learning that. I can't believe we hadn't thought about it sooner." She said in disbelief.

"Yeah, except this time Gin said it would be more of a mutual thing. Like apparently last time it was clear that Harry was the leader of it, now it'll be more of a mutual leadership between her, Neville and Luna." He explained, and Hermione nodded, thinking that made sense.

"So are they going to be using the room of requirement to hold the meetings?" She asked, and Ron shrugged his shoulders.

"We didn't get that far, she was actually asking me something about what they're planning to do this evening-" He said.

"Oh, do they want us to see if there's anyone in Slytherin we can trust to join? Or if we want to join? Because as much as I'd like to, I really can't see how it would work with my cover. People would ask too many questions. I reckon you could join though, if you wanted too of course." She rambled quickly, not giving Ron a chance to explain. He was used to this kind of response from her but he still resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her.

"Yeah she did ask that, the part on if we wanted to join not the other part, but it was mainly her asking if we could help them tonight because, as well as teaching others to defend themselves, they want to start becoming more obvious with their support for Harry – so, they've changed all those 'Undesirable One' posters to say 'The Chosen One' instead and added how he needs our support more than ever." Ron informed her, as they turned a corner.

"Sounds like they've been planning this for awhile." She commented.

"She said they had, but they don't want to put them up in the night just to have them taken down again before anyone sees them."

"So she asked if they could put them up tonight as we're patrolling."

"Exactly."

"Okay, yes, we could do that I suppose. If we keep an eye out while they're putting them up, we could warn them about anyone coming and they could make a run for it. It's risky but it's better then them having to do it alone." Hermione planned out.

"Yeah, I figured we could do that. She also wasn't sure about a spell they could use to hide the posters until morning so she asked me to ask you-"

"A concealment charm should work for a few hours and it'll wear off by the time everyone's up tomorrow. If we use a good sticking charm too it'll take awhile for the teachers to take them down as they'll have to cast a charm over each individual poster rather than a group of them. Come to think of it though, it'll probably just be the Carrows taking them down since I doubt the other teachers will be willing to help out." Hermione suggested, and Ron smiled. "So where are we meeting them? Outside the Gryffindor common room?"

"Yeah it seemed like the easiest place."

"What time?"

"About half an hour."

"Great. If we walk slowly we could start heading up there now."

"Great." He said, taking her hand in his.

Once they made it up there, Ginny and Neville were just coming out of the portrait hole, carrying what looked like thousands of posters between them. Ron, Ginny and Neville grinned at eachother while Hermione settled for giving them a small smile.

"Hi Ron, Daphne." Ginny greeted, with a glint in her eyes. Hermione tried to give her a warning look, not wanting Neville to suspect anything, so Ginny looked away from her, but there was still a slight smirk on her lips.

"Hey, shall we do this then?" Ron said, a bravely optmistic smile on his face.

"Yeah, Luna said she really would have liked to have helped tonight but she's actually got detention from speaking out in one of the Carrows' classes." Neville informed them grimly, as they all started walking.

"That's fine – so how many do you have?" Hermione asked, as Ron took half of Ginny's pile of posters. She considered taking some of Neville's but thought better of it, knowing Daphne would never help someone she didn't know very well.

"We sort of lost count but there should be enough to cover a wall on each floor." Ginny answered, and they turned a corner to the hallway which lead to the Grand Staircase, before she asked, "Shall we do this one?"

"Makes sense since everyone walks down this hall to get to the classrooms." Neville said, placing the posters he was holding on the floor. Ginny and Ron did the same then Neville and her pulled out their wands.

"Did you find out what spell we could use?" She asked, magically lining up the posters along the wall.

"Yeah a concealment charm should work and we should also use a sticking one." Ron explained, refusing to look at Hermione despite his every instinct wanted too.

"Hermione's taught you a few things then." Ginny commented, doing the very same as Ron.

"Guess you could say that." Ron said sheepishly, as if embarassed about talking about her infront of 'Daphne'. Hermione scowled, thinking Daphne wouldn't like her boyfriend talking about another girl.

"What's happened to her anyway?" Neville asked, suddenly curious. Ron showed him and Ginny the two charms they needed and then answered.

"We don't really know. She couldn't tell us for obvious reasons but we reckon she's with Harry." Ron said, putting on a sad expression.

"Yeah, thought that would be the reason." Neville said honestly, and they started walking down the staircase to the next floor. Neville looked conflictedly over at Ron, eventually deciding to just ask him the question, "Did you-did you and her ever get together? I heard rumours and stuff but you never know with these things."

Ginny snorted while Ron scratched the back of his neck and Hermione huffed in annoyance.

"Could we possibly change the subject?" She snapped agitatedly, making Neville turn crimson.

"Ye-yeah, sure. Sorry." He apologised hastily, as they reached the sixth floor.

None of them said anything after that, instead focusing on the task at hand. They worked quickly, with Neville and Ginny putting the posters up while Ron and Hermione kept an eye out for any oncomers. With them using magic, it didn't take very long for them to put the posters up, as they could put several up at one time. Luckily, they didn't have any problems with teachers or other students walking up to them either.

It wasn't until they'd done four floors that Neville broke the silence between them all. He was hesitant, given how she'd reacted to the last thing he said, but he managed to get the words out.

"Daphne, me and Gin were saying that if you wanted to join the DA that'd be okay. Ron said he's already up for it and you know, the more people the better."

Hermione smiled at him grimly, ignoring the part of her that desperately wanted to accept the offer. "Thankyou Neville, I really would love too, but I just...I can't." She said, making him frown as he continued putting up the posters.

"Why?"

"Well, it's just, there have been some problems with where me and my family lie in the war, like You Know Who doesn't know what side we're on and so he's sort of threatening us that if we don't side with him then we'll regret it. And I know the chances of this DA being found out is small, but I can't take that risk." She explained fearfully.

"Oh." Was all Neville managed to say, looking completely dumbfounded.

"That's okay, isn't it? I promise I won't tell anyone about it or anything like that and I don't mind helping you out with stuff like this once in awhile." She replied.

"Yeah, 'course I understand that it's just – I'd never really thought about how people might be forced into supporting him like that." Neville admitted.

Hermione didn't respond as she really had no idea how Daphne would, so she turned her attention back to looking around the corner when her eyes caught sight of a cat. She flashed back around and said in a hushed tone,

"I've just seen Mrs Norris. Filch will be here any second!"

Neville and Ginny immediately stopped putting up more posters and placed the concealment and sticking charm over the ones they had while Ron and Hermione shrunk the remaining posters. Neville and Ginny then put the re-sized posters into their pockets just giving Ron and Hermione a thankful look before running off. Ron and Hermione deliberately turned the corner, towards Filch, so they could give Neville and Ginny more of headstart.

Filch saw Ron and Hermione and instantly his eyes gleamed. He rushed towards them so Ron and Hermione stopped walking, giving him an odd look.

"I thought I heard students. What are you doing out of bed?" He grumbled, slowing his walking while Mrs Norris stared at them.

"We're doing our patrols. I'm head girl and he's a prefect." Hermione said matter of factly, and Filch's expression sank.

"Got any proof?" He grumbled, making Ron snort.

"Our badges not enough?" He retorted, and Hermione pressed her lips together to stop herself from laughing. Filch glanced at the badgers pinned onto their fronts and grimaced at the sight of them.

"Fine. Carry on." He muttered, pushing past Ron. When he was a few metres away, Hermione let out a sigh of relief.

"Hope Neville and Ginny make it back okay." Ron said absentmindedly.

"They will. No teacher would punish them if they were caught, considering what detentions are these days, and the Carrows are never anywhere except around the dungeons and the headmaster's office, and I doubt they'd be there at this time." Hermione said matter of factly.

"What about tomorrow when the posters show up? Any teacher could put the two and two together and realise they'd have something to do with it." Ron said, as they made their way down to the dungeons.

"If anything, I think they'd probably reward them for it." Hermione admitted, and Ron grinned at her.

They walked back to her dormitory, both feeling strangely happy with what they'd accomplished. Granted there had been a slight complication but, as they'd already discussed, if they were caught, they wouldn't be in any kind of trouble. And even though Hermione couldn't be part of Dumbledore's Army, she felt better knowing it had started again, that there were at least some people like her and the Weasleys who had faith in Harry and Dumbledore and weren't going to give up. The more people that were willing to stand upto Voldemort and his followers, the better.

Hermione had just managed to take off her make-up and her hair out of the ponytail it was in when she felt the familiar pain shooting through her body as she transformed back into herself. Ron, instantly knowing what was happening to her, rushed towards her, wrapping his arms around her. She grabbed hold of him, whimpering and gasping through her pain until the process finished. When all her pain had dissipated, they still remained in eachother's embrace for awhile, his warmth seeping through her bringing the usual comfort she felt whenever he was holding her.

"Does it still hurt as much as it did the first time?" He asked, softly running a hand up and down her back.

"It's better because I know what to expect now, but it still feels about the same." She replied, not seeing the point in lying to him about it.

"Isn't there anything you can get for the pain?" He questioned, and she lifted her head off his chest.

"Not without arousing suspicion. It's fine, I knew I'd have to go through this when I agreed to the idea of it." She said, a reassuring smile on her face.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" He wound his arms around her even more, making her stomach flip.

"Just do what you've been doing." She advised, causing him to frown at her.

"But I haven't been doing anything."

"You have. You've been here for me and that's all I need." She declared, and he smiled. She looked over him, paying particular attention to his glazed over eyes, and felt her heart swell at the sight. Suddenly, she was consumed by everything she felt for him. With his arms around her and him looking at her the way he was, her love for him was flowing through her and bringing everything to life. She knew then that she couldn't hold it back anymore. She needed to let it out because she felt as if she'd explode if she kept it in much longer. "Ron."

"Yeah?" He said expectantly, looking completely at ease. She licked her lips and felt a lump rise in her throat for some unexplainable reason. She didn't let herself think about it, knowing she'd find some reason not to tell him, and forced herself to look him in the eye.

"I love you."

The words hung in the air after she said it, the implications of it sinking in for them. His eyes looked blank for a few seconds until it dawned on him that he hadn't imagined it, he'd actually heard those words come out of her mouth.

She bit her lip, not feeling the relief she'd expected too. He was just stood there, staring at her with an unreadable expression. She couldn't help but be reminded of when they'd first kissed and how he looked at her exactly like that. But then she remembered how he responded afterwards, even though it took him a moment or two. He pulled her back in for another kiss. He'd only been surprised that she'd done what she did. When she thought about it, that could only mean one thing if he was acting the same now.

He beamed at her and his lips crashed onto hers. A rush of adrenaline shot through her from the contact making her eyes close instantly. The sheer intensity of his kiss made her mind go blank, all her focus being put into what she was feeling. It was as if he was putting everything into the kiss, like he was holding absolutely nothing back. His lips were kissing hers so passionately that her knees felt as if they'd give out on her from the weight of it. His arms slid around her more, practically lifting her off her feet making a small whimper escape from her. The noise seemed to jolt him awake as his lips broke away from hers suddenly. She opened her eyes lazily, feeling light-headed and swallowed. She was about to voice her objection to him stopping their kissing when she caught the look in his eyes, transfixing her completely.

"I love you too." He stated. Her reaction was remarkably similar to his, despite how she'd been expecting it. It took her a moment for what he said to sink in but when it did, an impossibly large smile spread across her face as she felt herself welling up. She bit her lip, which made his grin widen, and some tears trailed down her cheeks. He gently wiped them away and she took in a shuddering breath noticing how his own eyes seemed a little glassy too.

"Really?" She said, not really needing him to answer.

"'Course I do, you...you make me happy, Hermione." He confessed.

If anyone had heard him say that, they probably wouldn't think much of it. But she knew him better than anyone and understood the significance of it. He'd spent years being depressed and hopeless, only seeing the bad in the world rather than the good, so for her to change that and make him _happy_, that was all she could have ever wished for.

She tilted her head up, intending to softly brush her lips against his before settling back into his embrace, but when her lips came into contact with his again, she somehow knew that wouldn't happen anytime soon. Warmth filled her stomach unexpectantly and she pulled him down to her level more, her tongue slipping into his mouth. He tightened his grip around her, responding to her kissing with an equal amount of enthusiasm. Their lips moved against eachother's in a familar routine that was fast and feverish. It set them both alive, working them into a state that needed satisfaction.

Before she knew it, they were a tangle of limbs on her bed. Their ties had been thrown somewhere along with their shoes and cloaks. She was on top of him, one of her legs inbetween his while the other was curling around his. She had his shirt fisted in her hands as she kissed him fiercely, her centre pulsating, his tongue massaging hers. His hands drifted from her waist to her legs, his light touch sending a series of chills through her. She slowly untucked his shirt from his trousers, whimpering when he started stroking the backs of her thighs, exciting her even more. She pressed her lips against his more, sucking on his bottom lip, making his fingers dig into her skin as he let out a groan. She instinctively thrust her hips from the contact, the pulsating inside of her turning into a deep throbbing feeling his touch on her inner thighs. Her heart was racing as she slid her hands underneath his shirt and he held his breath, trying to get used to the sensation. She quickened their kissing, running her hands over his stomach and chest but was getting frustrated with the material restricting her. She started unbuttoning his shirt as quickly as possible, fumbling a little due to the state she was in but managed to have them all undone within a minute. She adjusted herself so she was straddling him and he sat up with her so she could rid him of his shirt completely. She broke her lips away from his so she could take a much needed breath and remove his shirt.

It was gone in a moment and once she caught her breath, she couldn't help but gaze over him. He was toned but not overly muscular and had freckles scattered across his skin. The sight of it sent a penetrating jolt through her directly to her centre and she parted her mouth so she could take in deeper breaths. She softly ran the tips of her fingers over him, drinking every inch of him in, making goosebumps rise on his skin. She smiled at the sight but frowned when she saw a scar on the front of his shoulder. It was an unusual shape and must have been from a curse performed on him. She gently ran her fingers over it and was about to ask how he got it when he answered for her,

"From Snape, last year."

She nodded and let her fingers drift down to his stomach while her eyes remained fixated on the blemish. She wasn't sure what possessed her to do it but she felt it was the right thing to do, so she leant forward and pressed her lips against the scar. She could feel him take a sharp intake of breath before she pulled away, looking into his eyes and noticed how his were flicking over her face with a glazed over look to them.

"What?" She said nervously, and he smiled at her.

"I just love you...so much." He replied hoarsely, tilting his head up to claim her lips, sending a surge of happiness through her. She smiled against his lips and wrapped her arms around his neck. The slow romantic kiss went on for a few minutes before their desire for one another had built up again to a yearning need. As she was still straddling him, she could still feel him directly where she wanted him to be and it sent sparks through her bloodstream that caused her mind to cloud over. His hands slid to her front where he palmed her breasts through her shirt briefly, just enough to make all thought disappear from her mind, and she let out a moan. He squeezed her a little, eliciting another moan out of her before his fingers were against the top buttons on her blouse. Knowing he was waiting for her permission, she nodded and he instantly set to work. Once done, he tried taking it off her fully but couldn't due to her arms being around his neck. That was when it hit her how she'd momentarily forgotten about the scar on her chest. A sudden wash of conciousness flowed over her as she hesitantly pulled away from him. He opened his eyes and saw how she was looking downcast, as if ashamed of herself.

"What is it? Do you not want me too?" He asked perplexed, and she shook her head.

"No, that's not it. It's just – do you remember when I told you about, about what happened at the ministry of magic in my fifth year? That I got hit by a curse and it left an...unpleasant scar?" She said shakily, knowing it had been months since she'd spoken to him about it. It took him a second for him to remember but once he did, he understood immediately why she was feeling the way she was.

"Hermione," He started softly, but she interrupted.

"I'm not being self-concious, I'm just being honest so don't-don't..." She trailed off, hating herself for getting embarassed and trying to make-up another reason for it.

"Hermione, the only thing I'd ever hate about that scar is that it's there from someone trying to hurt you." He stated, and she cautiously looked him in the eye. All she could make out was complete sincerity in his eyes so she nodded, gaining the confidence she needed, and he took her blouse off fully.

The scar mainly covered the right side of her chest and was a harsh pink colour. It wasn't necessarily large, but it wasn't small either as it covered the space between her breast and collarbone. It was just so noticeable, standing out against her skin the way that Harry's stood out on his forehead. She felt her heart race, her nerves getting the best of her, and was resisting the urge to pull her shirt back on when she saw Ron lean forwards and press a kiss too it, like she'd done to his. Her breath caught in her throat and all resistance washed out of her from the action. She was sure he could feel her rapidly beating heart but if he could, he didn't show it. His hands ran to her back and she gasped at the chills it sent through her, feeling his hands directly on her skin. She placed her hands on his shoulders as he started kissing the skin around her scar. Each kiss seemed to ignite a new fire within her that spread throughout her whole body, making every part of her come alive. As he kissed the swell of her breast, she instinctively ground her hips down onto his making his hands grab onto her. Feeling his fingers digging into her, his erection pressing up against her and him kissing her where he was made her tremble with the desire that was coursing through her, so when his tongue darted out of his mouth and licked her sensitive skin, she was sure all she could possibly be feeling was complete bliss. She wrapped her arms around him, one hand clenching his hair, encouraging him to continue. He softly sucked on her skin, making her legs tighten around him as she arched her back, before he licked her breast again. As she was still wearing her bra, he was restricted with his actions so he kept on sucking and licking the same spot, making her middle pound so hard that she rolled her hips onto his, desperately wanting release. But he wasn't anywhere close to the state she was in and a part of her resented that. She remembered what it was like to see him lose control before and the mere memory of it was enough to make her moan out-loud. She stopped moving her body and forced him to stop what he was doing. She crashed her lips onto his, pulling his bottom lip between hers and nibbled on it while she ran her hands down his chest. She was kissing him almost aggresively with how vigurous she was being, but he seemed to be enjoying it as she felt him squeeze her and moan against her lips. She adjusted herself so she was straddling his legs rather than his hips so she could unzip him, all the while keeping her lips against his. She could feel him tense in anticipation and when she palmed him over his underwear, she felt his cock get even harder.

Not wanting to waste anytime, she passed the last barrier and wrapped her hand around him, making him stop their kissing as he gasped. She opened her eyes and felt a jolt of pleasure shoot through her at the sight of him open mouthed, wide eyed and flushed. She bit her lip, trying not to show the effect he had upon her, something he noticed out of the corner of his eye since his gaze darted down to her lips. She bit it even more while she stroked him, making his breathing deepen but his eyes remained fixated on her lips. She continued stroking him slowly and with each one she increased the pressure of her teeth against her own skin, to the point where it was actually painful. She released the hold she had on it and took pleasure in the tingling sensation that replaced it. His gaze darkened and he leant forward, pulling her slightly swollen lip between his and licked it. She whimpered, not needing to be anymore aroused than she already was, and pushed him back so he was lying down. She tightened the hold she had around his cock and started stroking him faster, rendering him incapable of doing anything except lying beneath her. She pulled away from him to only trail short sharp kisses down his neck and chest, occasionally nipping at his skin. The lower she got, the deeper he had to breathe, so when she was kissing his hips, he was practically panting. A sheen of sweat was covering his skin so when her tongue darted out of her mouth to have a taste, he let out a moan of,

"Hermione."

She looked up from where she was, and met his gaze as she slowly started lowering his underwear. He swallowed, suddenly realising what she was about to do and she felt his cock twitch in her hand from it. She smiled at him, feeling him tense all over until he was free. She glanced down and her eyebrows shot up at the sight.

"Wow." She let out, and he chuckled a little.

"Guess that's the best response I could get." He replied, still breathing heavily.

"It certainly is the best." She responded in a tone that suggested something else. Before he could retort, she'd experimentally flicked her tongue over the head instantly making a loud gutteral groan escape his lips. Encouraged by his strong reaction, she hesitantly licked him up his shaft and his hand instinctively clutched onto the hair on the back of her head.

"Hermione, please. Not that I'm not enjoying this but..." He trailed off, and she felt a jolt of electricity shoot through her from his husky tone. He didn't need to say anything else as she placed her lips around him and took him into her mouth. His hold on her tightened as he groaned and she went back up, not knowing until then how arousing she would find the experience. The noises she was eliciting out of him were making the pounding in her centre increase rapidly and she let out a moan of her own, in turn making it even more pleasurable for him. She started bobbing her head faster and his mouth remained agape, feeling the familiar building up inside of his stomach. He let out an incomprehensible noise, using all of his self-control to hold back, and tried to stop himself from thrusting upwards. When she started sucking as well though, he knew he wasn't going to be able to last much longer.

"'ermione, I'm gonna-" He started, but never managed to finish as she abruptly sped up, sucking even harder, making him explode. He shouted out something that resembled her name, every inch of him tensing as he gave himself over to the euphoric pleasure that wished to consume him. She helped him ride through his orgasm until she'd drained him completely and he'd sunk back onto the bed, feeling as if he'd lost control of all his muscles. She swallowed the odd tasting substance, straightening up and he stared at the ceiling, waiting for his heart rate to slow and to catch his breath.

"That was..." He trailed off, unable to think of a word that truly described the experience.

"Good?" She suggested hopefully, settling herself down so she was lying down next to him. She clenched her thighs together in a vain attempt to relieve herself but it actually did the exact opposite, working herself into a more excited state.

"Fucking brilliant more like." He countered, making a blush rise in her cheeks and she stared up at the ceiling too. He rested for a minute before tucking himself back into his underwear and turned towards Hermione. "Love you."

She couldn't have stopped herself from laughing if she tried.

"Your timing really is impeccable." She answered, turning her head to the side and met his gaze. He chuckled a little and she continued,"Love you too, you prat."

He grinned, placing his hand on her stomach which instantly sent chills up her spine, and he started running the tips of his fingers across the lining of her skirt. She held her breath, trying to ignore her throbbing centre but ultimately failed because trying to ignore it somehow made her focus on it even more. She squirmed beneath him and felt as if her heart was pounding in her ears when he edged closer to her. It was remarkable how quickly the air filled with sexual tension again.

"Think it's your turn now." He muttered suggestively, planting a kiss on her jawline. She let out the breath she'd been holding and tilted her head to allow him more access, which he took full advantage of as he alternately kissed, licked and nibbled at her skin. When he found that sensitive spot behind her ear, she moaned and her legs started trembling, warmth flooding through her stomach.

"Ron." She whimpered, and his hand lowered, sliding underneath her skirt. She tensed, reaching out to grab hold of something and found his upper-arm and the sheets on her bed. He rubbed her over her underwear briefly, making her nails dig into his skin, and she spread her legs wider apart. He trailed kisses down her front until he was aligned with her cleavage. He lightly nipped at her tender flesh there and she let out a cry of surprise mixed with pleasure. She could feel sweat glistening across her skin, the heat inside of her becoming too much to bear, just as he slipped his hand inside of her underwear, immediately flicking her nub. The sudden sparks of pleasure it sent through her made her hips buck up as she parted her mouth, taking in deeper breaths. He switched to rubbing her there making her hum in appreciation and planted open mouthed kisses to her other breast. He quickened the pace of his rubbing and applied more pressure to her clit, making her cry out. A rush of heat spread through her from her toes and she was surprised to already be feeling something building in the pit of her stomach.

"I-I-" She cried out, arching her back screwing up the sheet she was holding in one hand, squeezing his arm with her other as she felt herself reaching that point of no return. She felt his tongue lick down her stomach, past her naval and before she'd managed to comprehend what he was going to do, he flipped her skirt up and his tongue was replacing his finger. She choked on her breath, throwing her head back, consumed by the pure ecstasy that she was feeling. If she'd have known how much better his tongue would feel against her then she would have insisted upon it far sooner. The luscious feelings he was creating were seducing every part of her so there wasn't an inch of her that wasn't enraptured by the fiery pleasure thundering through her body from her centre. Her chest was heaving and her hips were starting to thrust up erratically when her legs clamped around his head, keeping him there as she screamed out his name. He lapped up all her juices as she orgasmed powerfully, licking her dry.

When she fell back against the bed, breathless and weak, she wondered if there was any better feeling than the one she was currently overwhelmed with. She hazily opened her eyes to see him wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and noticed how he'd adjusted her underwear and skirt for her so she was covered up. She gave him an appreciative smile and swallowed, having to ask,

"How are you so good at that?"

He grinned at her, resting his chin on her stomach. She started languidly running her fingers through his slightly damp hair, awaiting his answer.

"You'd be surprised at what a drunk Bill and Charlie will tell you." He said, making her laugh lightly. "What's your excuse? Cause what you did was...unreal."

She beamed at him and thought it over for a moment before deciding to just tell him.

"Well, you know how I like to read."

His expression turned from amusement to shock back to amusement in the span of a few seconds.

"You're having me on, aren't you?" He said in disbelief, and she shook her head.

"Well, I was curious so why not?" She admitted, thinking nothing of it considering what they'd just done.

"You're saying that you've been reading erotic novels." He stated, making her laugh.

"I guess so." She replied, and his eyes gleamed.

"What are they like?" He asked, causing her to laugh more.

"I'm not telling you anything." She insisted, and he lifted his head up, moving into a sitting position by her side.

"Come on, is it like...John moaned as Sarah took hold of his throbbing dick, bringing him that much closer to urr his golden climax." Ron improvised, making Hermione laugh so hard that she could have sworn it brought tears to her eyes. He sniggered a little himself at how bad it was.

"I think you should start writing your own novel with that kind of skill." She joked, wanting to sit up with him but was rendered incapable of doing so without a severe amount of effort.

"Yeah, yeah, you get what I mean though." He retorted.

"I told you I'm not telling you anything."

"Fine." He said, appearing to give in and stayed quiet for a minute. "Maybe we could read one together."

"Ron!"

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><p><strong>A:N Sorry for the slightly late update guys, I've completely lost track of the days since I started my holidays, promise I won't forget next time! Thanks to whoever it was who reminded me on tumblr :P I didn't bother re-reading this since it was late so apologies for any mistakes.**

**Thanks for all the reviews, alerts etc! **


	32. Chapter 32

**A:N/ Link to song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=Jt0B3oYgmaA**

**Pip pip.**

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><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 32

Can We Ever Be Happy?

"_He was so sad last night_

_In this house out there_

_He took my hand and whispered_

_And life is so sad in this house out there_

_His window's alright_

_His garden is wonderful."_

_I'll Drown – Soley_

Nothing could have prepared Hermione for the news she was going to discover. She'd never expected it, especially given how the day had started off so well. Although, terrible news always had a habit of letting it self known whenever someone was particularly happy.

Both Ron and her had been pleased that morning as everything had gone according to plan with the first rebel plan. All the posters they'd managed to put up had revealed themselves, none of the teachers were willing to assist the Carrows in taking them down, no-one suspected that Neville or Ginny had anything to do with it and, best of all, the entire school was talking about it.

Ron and Hermione had just exitted the Slytherin common room when a breathless Ingrid was rushing upto them.

"Daph! You've got to see this-" She started, but they were interrupted.

"Ingrid, hey, I need to talk to you." Blaise said, not waiting for her to respond as he grabbed hold of her arm and started dragging her towards a small broom cupboard. She shrugged her shoulders, mouthing she'd tell her later before she was pulled in the cupboard with Blaise and the door slammed shut.

Ron and Hermione barely managed to exchange a glance when a furious Eva was stomping past them, muttering darkly,

"Honestly, can't she keep her knickers on for more than two seconds."

This time, they actually managed to exchange a look and headed to the Great Hall with the enraged girl.

"It's just disgusting her behaviour. Won't be long until she catches something at the rate she's going. Maybe she already has. Chylamidia seems like the most likely option as it doesn't show obvious symptoms. She's so stupid I wouldn't put it past her to forget to use protection. Do me a favour Daphne and don't be as idiotic as that."

Hermione stopped herself from fidgeting awkwardly by the comment, knowing Daphne wouldn't have a problem with it, and instead let out a bark of laughter.

"You don't have to worry about that with me." She said, but Eva stared ahead, as if she wasn't paying attention to her.

"Oh I do hate her sometimes. Ignorant, selfish, egotistical." Eva continued.

"Like she's the only one." Ron commented under his breath, as they walked in the Great Hall.

"Do us a favour Weasley and do shut up. Your stupidity rivals even the likes of Crabbe at times." She snapped bitterly. Instinctively, Hermione felt the need to defend him but wasn't sure if Daphne would be quite as aggressive as she wanted to be.

"He's got a point you know." Hermione said lightly, and Eva finally looked at her.

"Is this your pathetic attempt at a joke?" Eva retorted, and Hermione laughed.

"No, what I mean is the pair of you are pretty similar. I've had to put up with you two bickering for years and it's all a load of bullshit." Hermione explained, grabbing a bowl of cereal.

"Bullshit for what?" Eva asked, for once sounding genuinely curious about something.

"Miss Greengrass, the headmaster wants to see you." Professor Slughorn announced, now beside her. Hermione tried not to show how the simple sentence caused fear to run through her veins.

"Oh, why?" She asked, trying to sound unaffected as she stood up.

"Oh nothing bad, just some headgirl related duties I think. Shouldn't be a problem." He said positively, before walking towards another student. She turned towards Ron who had wide eyes and she tried to smile reassuringly at him.

"I'll see you in class." She said, quickly giving him a peck on the cheek before hurrying towards the office. She tried not to dwell on what Snape could want with her. She refused to believe he'd discovered her secret, he'd barely set foot out of his office since the year had started. He couldn't possibly know. She'd been so careful too, It didn't make sense for him to suspect anything when nobody else did.

Before she knew it, she was standing in front of his office, but she'd forgotten one crucial thing. She didn't know the password. Just as she thought it though, the statue moved to reveal a small staircase. Not knowing how long she'd be there, she took a sip of her polyjuice potion to be careful and knocked on the door to hear no answer. After knocking again and still hearing no answer, she hesitantly opened the door, peering inside. Her eyebrows shot up seeing no-one, but she took a step inside.

"He left a few minutes ago, someone saying he needed to help them take down some posters. He shouldn't be too much longer, you can wait here if you're meant to see him." One of the portraits of the old headmasters said, and she glanced around the room until she found one of a particularly old man, smiling softly at her.

"Thank you." She replied, closing the door behind her and walked further in. The office didn't look very different from when Dumbledore had been headmaster. In fact, it was practically the same, except there was no sign of Fawkes. The one real difference was how it was far messier, with bits of parchment strewn all over the desk and equipment scattered around the room. Various books appeared to have been thrown against walls as they lay open hapharzadly on the floor, pages ripped out of them and the corners dented. Even the sword of Gryffindor was messily propped up against a wall.

Her gaze continued across a fairly empty bookcase when her eyes fell on the sorting hat. She blinked a few times to make sure she wasn't seeing things when something occurred to her. She walked closer to it, biting her lip as she was a little unsure on how she should greet a hat.

"Um, excuse me?" She said hesitantly, and the hat gave no sign of hearing her. She frowned and was about to address it again when,

"Yes?" It asked, sounding disgruntled at being interrupted from...whatever it had been doing. She straightened up, keeping her head held high attempting to meet its gaze.

"I was just wondering if I could ask you something." She said strongly, and actually saw it shift.

"I guess it would be all right." It muttered, making her smile.

"Can you remember every sorting you've ever done?"

The hat seemed to think about her question for a moment before answering, "Some sortings are more memorable than others and given the amount of sortings I've performed it would be impossible for me to remember them all."

"What about within the past seven years?" She asked quickly.

"Yes, I'd think so." It answered, now sounding enthusiastic about the conversation they were having. She beamed to herself, hope building up inside of her for maybe getting an answer for this question.

"Could you tell me about Ronald Weasley's?" She questioned, briefly wondering if the hat would even tell her. She guessed a person's sorting would be very personal for them, but it seemed as if the hat couldn't care less about it as it started explaining,

"Now that one was an interesting one. Nothing particularly memorable about him of course, another Weasley, it was an easy choice at first. Gryffindor seemed like the logical decision." The hat paused for a moment, having to think for a second before continuing. "It was strange after that, I suddenly got the feeling as if that would be a very bad decision. It was instinctive. I had to put him in Slytherin."

Hermione frowned, not ever knowing that the hat had considered placing him in Gryffindor, but continued interrogating,

"Yes, but why? What was it about him that made you put him there? What quality did he possess that signified he should be a Slytherin?"

Again, the sorting hat had to think about it's answer.

"I don't know, I can't explain why. Like I said, it's a very instinctive thing."

"But your instinct was to put him in Gryffindor, so why didn't you?" She snapped aggressively, suddenly feeling angry at the object before her, because it was the reason for all of Ron's suffering. If it had placed him in Gryffindor, then how different would Ron's life be? He'd have been happier, she was sure of that, and ultimately that was all that mattered to her.

"It's a bit blurry." It defended hotly, moving itself in a manner that reminded her of an owl ruffling it's feathers whenever it was angry.

"Blurry?" She said in disbelief.

"I can't remember it very well." It retorted, and Hermione was sure that if it could have done, the cheeks of the hat would be flaming in indignation.

"But you can remember other people's sortings that year, say mine or Harry Potter's or Susan Bone's." She said, listing the names that popped into her mind.

"Yes, those I can." It muttered, beginning to sound embarassed.

"So why not his?" She virtually shouted, making the hat jump so violently that it was in the air for a moment.

"I'm not sure...anyway, why does this matter to you so much?" It snapped.

She chose to ignore his question and instead asked another, "Is it possible someone cursed you into putting him in the house?"

"It is possible." The hat said reluctantly, as if it despised acknowledging it could make a mistake. "But I doubt it."

"Why?"

"Because there are only two wizards powerful enough to have done it, and one of them was believed to be dead then." It explained, clearly talking about Voldemort and-

"Dumbledore." She said.

She barely had time to focus on what she'd just learned as the door to the office opened, and her breath hitched in her throat as she saw Snape and the Carrows walk in. Snape frowned at the sight of her and she couldn't help but notice how haggard he looked. His hair was greasier than normal, his cheeks scarily hollow and his skin was unnaturally pale, even for his standards.

"We thought you'd want to question her about the posters as she was patrolling last night and would know if anyone was out past hours." Amycus explained before Snape could ask, and he turned to glare at him.

"That's something the pair of you are capable of doing, need I remind you of how I'm much more preoccupied at the moment?" He snapped, striding towards his desk and sat down. Both Amycus and Alecto stiffened from his tone and when they didn't answer, he turned his attention towards Hermione. "Now, how did you get up here Miss Greengrass?"

"The statue moved and the staircase showed itself when I got up here." She said, and saw something flicker in Snape's eyes. It seemed to be something like surprise, but the look was gone before she could really tell what it was. It switched into anger and he turned his attention towards the Carrows.

"Did one of you idiots forget to close the door on your way out, because the password system won't work properly if that happens." He snapped at them, and they both narrowed their eyes at him but remained silent. Snape sighed angrily, making Hermione frown at him. It sounded a bit too forced, as if he was putting it on and actually hiding the truth. Either way, she didn't have time to dwell on it as he gestured for her to sit down. "May as well ask you as you're here now. Did you catch anyone out of bed after hours last night?"

"No." She answered instantly, sitting herself down in the chair in front of his desk.

"Did you see anyone putting up the posters but they ran away so you couldn't tell who it was?" He asked, starting to tidy the desk by putting various bits of parchment into different piles.

"No, I only ran into Filch last night."

"At what time did you finish patrolling?"

"Around eleven thirty I guess. I'm not sure as I wasn't keeping an eye on the time."

"Which therefore means anyone could have done it between the hours of midnight and six in the morning. Now, tell me, what was so imperative that I had to be the one to ask these questions and not one of you two?" Snape practically spat, looking up for the first time since his questioning began.

"Oh shut it, Snape. We were just thinking that you should start doing your job around here." Alecto snapped, having enough. Snape's gaze narrowed, becoming more furious with each second that passed while Hermione looked around uncomfortably.

"Miss Greengrass, you're free to leave now." Snape said stiffly, and Hermione quickly made her way out. She let out a sigh of relief, pleased that he'd only wanted to see her about that and at how believable her lying was. She glanced at the time and saw she'd have to skip breakfast if she was to make it to Potions on time so she started making her way there.

Her mind was reeling with the information she'd just learnt. Essentially she'd found out that the explanation for Ron's being in Slytherin was Dumbledore had cursed the hat into doing it. Or, more specifically, maybe he'd imperiused it, it would explain why the memory was hazy for the hat and why it'd suddenly felt that he should put him into Slytherin because Dumbledore would have had to state which house he'd want the hat to put Ron in. And she didn't think it would necessarily be past Dumbledore to use that curse.

Finding it out though, it actually raised more questions then it answered. Why did Dumbledore put Ron in Slytherin? Why didn't he let him in Gryffindor? Why didn't he put him in another house? Why did Dumbledore even do it? Why would he do that to Ron? Surely he'd know on some level how it would affect Ron, so why would he want to cause him such a level of unhappiness?

Hermione understood that Dumbledore always tried to do what was best for everyone, but it was difficult to see that when he'd been the source of Ron's sadness for so long. She'd never actually hated Dumbledore before. On occasion she'd disaggreed with some of his decisions and disliked him for it, such as some of the secrets he'd kept over the years from Harry, but she'd never felt such an intense loathing for him than she did in that moment.

She had to put a stop to her thoughts as her anger was starting to visibly show since she was virtually stomping down the hall and her fists were clenched at her sides. She took a deep breath to try and calm herself down but it did nothing. When she finally got to the Potions classroom, she threw open the door so harshly that it ricocheted off the wall and gained everyone's attention inside. Her cheeks instantly flamed and she carefully closed the door behind her.

"Oh Daphne, yes you were speaking with the headmaster, weren't you?" Slughorn recalled, as she hurried over to her desk that she shared with Eva and nodded. "Very well, just copy the notes that Eva's made."

Hermione took out everything she needed for the lesson and looked over to see Eva hadn't written a single thing down. She frowned, finding it very unlike Eva, and glanced over her. She was staring down at the desk, holding her head up with her hand and looked incredibly depressed about something. If she were being honest, Hermione didn't care very much about it given her mind was plagued with far more important thoughts, but knowing Daphne would care about Eva's feelings, she leant towards her and said in a hushed tone,

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine." She snapped irritably. Hermione decided to leave her too it, knowing she wouldn't get a better answer out of her, and tried paying attention to the lesson.

However, the same questions revolving around Dumbledore and Ron refused to leave her mind. She never got any further in answering them, but the one thing she knew she needed to do was tell Ron. It would eat away at her until she did. She didn't think she'd be able to last the day without telling him, but couldn't see an opportunity where she could any earlier. The one lesson they shared that day was Charms and that was after lunch. Needless to say there wasn't enough time during lunch to tell him, given the impact the information would have on him, and she could hardly tell him through a note or in a quiet discussion in the lesson afterwards. Maybe she could convince him to skip his afternoon lessons. She doubted he would be that bothered about it.

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><p>When lunch came, he was nowhere in sight. She thought he might just be a bit late but when he still hadn't shown after ten minutes, she was beginning to worry. After all, it was a rare occasion where Ron would miss a meal.<p>

"Hey Ingrid, do you know where Ron is?" Hermione asked, her eyes fixated on the doors to the Great Hall rather than on the girl sat next to her. Ingrid swallowed her food down before answering,

"Haven't you heard?"

Hermione's attention was instantly drawn towards her, sensing that whatever was about to come out of her mouth wasn't going to be pleasant.

"Heard what?" She asked, unable to prevent the dread from seeping into her tone.

"Actually, do you know where Eva is? Haven't seen her at all today, she okay?" Ingrid asked, now realising the other girl wasn't with them.

"I don't, she seemed a bit upset earlier but Ingrid, could-"

"Really? Why?" Ingrid interrupted, a look of concern on her face.

"I don't know, but Ingrid, what is it that I haven't heard?" Hermione asked desperately.

"It was in the Prophet this morning, surprised they published it actually, but they found that ex-girlfriend of his that was missing." Ingrid said, eating some more, keeping her gaze focused on her food.

"What?" Hermione asked in astonishment.

"It wasn't good. They found her body in some forest in the middle of nowhere, muggles apparently who were out for a stroll. It said that it looked as if she'd been dead for a few months."

Not needing to hear another word, Hermione scrambled to her feet, throwing her bag over her shoulder as she sprinted off, ignoring Ingrid's shouting after her. She wanted to hit herself for taking so long in finding out about Lavender. In her view, there was no excuse for it.

She ran down the halls blindly, not wanting to stop, even though she had no idea where he was. She tried to think of where he could be, what did he usually do when he was sad? He used to go to a place where he'd be alone until he started opening upto her. She halted, suddenly knowing where he'd be and turned in the direction of the grand staircase. She sprinted to her destination, forcing herself to go as quickly as possible, realising in the process that despite how slim Daphne was she wasn't very fit. She didn't focus on it, only thinking about Ron and what he could currently be going through.

She ignored Madam Pince's shouts of,

"No running in the library!"

And continued heading to the back of the library until she was at her old table. She let out a sigh of relief, seeing he was there, but simultaneously her heart broke at the sight. He was hunched over with an open book in front of him to give the pretence that he was doing work if Madam Pince ever came along, and was staring at the page blankly.

"I'm so sorry, Ron. I got here as fast as I could, I literally just found out." She said quickly, grabbing a chair and pulled it closer to him before sitting down. She placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and he slowly raised his head. His face was sickeningly pale and his eyes seemed impossibly huge. Clearly, he was still in a state of shock so she just sat awkwardly next to him, lightly squeezing his shoulder.

She was clueless about how to help him. She wanted to comfort him but how could she in this situation. It wasn't exactly like how she'd helped Harry with Sirius because Ron's relationship with Lavender had been so much more complicated. It obviously mattered to him what had happened but it wasn't on the same level as Harry's loss. Additionally, she knew Ron'd never really lost anyone close to him so this was completely new territory for him.

He cleared his throat, having not spoken or drunk anything for a number of hours, breaking her from her thoughts.

"I couldn't go to-" He started feebly, and she softly stroked his arm.

"I know, you don't have to explain." She interrupted, trying to be calm for him. He took in a deep breath and looked around him.

"I want - needed to be somewhere that reminded me of something good – you." He rambled, sounding as if his voice was disconnected, like he wasn't aware that he was talking outloud. He blinked a few times eventually turning his attention towards her. "Can we go somewhere so I can see you, the real you? I just really need _you_ now."

"Of course." She answered, not needing to think about it. She took hold of his hand and they stood up, his movements seeming strangely robotic. They didn't say anything as they walked to her dormitory, Hermione thinking that Ron could do with the time to process the information more.

When they were inside, she put up the usual charms and checked the time. She glanced over at Ron, who was mirroring the position he had in the library but instead on her bed.

"I'm sorry, there's still a few minutes before I'll change back and I can't make it go any faster." She announced, and he nodded, apparently in some kind of daze. She sat next to him and took his hand in both of hers.

"She's dead." He stated, making her flinch from the harshness of his tone. She felt his grip tighten on her hand as he repeated himself, "_She's dead._"

She edged closer to him and he lifted his head up to look at her. She sucked in a cold breath seeing how his eyes were filled with tears.

"Oh Ron." She let out, forcing down the lump in her throat. He sniffed and rubbed at his nose harshly, as if that would help prevent the tears from pooling over.

"It's not fair. She did nothing to deserve..." He trailed off, and furiously wiped away at the tear that had leaked out of his eye. "Just because we didn't end on good terms doesn't mean I don't care about her, you know?"

"I know you do." She said comfortingly. "It's more than natural for you to be upset about it."

"I just – I can't help but think what if-" He started, his voice trembling.

"No, you can't." She snapped hastily, and he frowned gripping onto her hand more.

"I didn't even finish."

"You didn't have too. Ron, you can't wonder about what would have happened if things had worked out differently. It'll drive you mad." She explained, his expression making her want to cry.

"But still-" He quickly wiped away another tear that had managed to slip out.

"No, there was nothing you could have done. I'm sorry but you-"

"-have to deal with it and move on." He finished simply.

She bit her lip, wishing there was a nicer way to phrase it but was unable to think of one. She instead tried taking his other hand in hers but he pulled it out of her reach. She frowned at him and he sighed, letting her see it.

"What did you do?" She asked sympathetically, running her fingers over his bruised knuckles.

"Punched a door." He informed, his ears turning pink.

"A door?" She questioned perplexed, raising an eyebrow at him. He blushed and she smiled.

"Yeah, then it swung back and hit me in the face." He admitted, making her snort.

"I'm sorry, it's not funny." She said, trying to put on a serious expression but was failing. He smiled a little, glad to see that he could at least make her laugh.

"It kind of annoyed me so I might have done it again and the same thing happened."

She burst out laughing and he couldn't help but chuckle along with her. She tried to stop herself but found it impossible, as if the situation they were in somehow made it even more hysterical. When their laughter had died down, she pulled his hand upto her mouth, brushing her lips over his knuckles. She then let his hand rest in her lap.

"So where does your head hurt?" She asked with a playful smile, making him grin.

"Hard to say. You might just have to check all over my face I think." He replied, and she laughed until a searing pain shot through her, making her gasp out. His arms were around her in an instant, bringing her body closer to his, and hers instinctively wrapped back around him. Her legs also wrapped around his waist and she rested her head on his shoulder. Every part of her clung onto him while she transformed back into herself, the waves of pain impossible to ignore. When the pain had ebbed, she loosened the hold she had on him but remained in the same position. She let out a shaky breath and slowly lifted her head up so she could look at him. He had to tilt his head up to look at her and she gazed down at him, trying not to think of the last time they'd been in a position similar to the one they were in.

"You okay?" He asked, and she nodded. Silence filled the room and the smile drifted off his face, his thoughts drifting back to what they'd previously been talking about. His eyes misted over and she felt as if a great weight was upon her chest.

"You can let it out. You don't have to try and hold anything back when you're with me." She said reassuringly, and his jaw went slack. The tears started trailing down his cheeks and he let his head fall forward against her shoulder. She wrapped herself around him more and let him cry in her arms. If she hadn't felt his tears on her, she wouldn't have known he was crying at all but it still made her ache inside. She kissed the top of his head, wishing she could somehow alleviate him of all his pain. The tears stopped after a few minutes but he stayed as he was, only shifting his head a little so she could feel his shallow breaths on her neck. She shivered and kissed the top of his head again.

She held onto him for a long time without either of them saying anything. They didn't need too though. She just wanted to take all of his pain away and the way she felt whenever he held her seemed to do that so she thought it could work for him.

"Do you want to stay here tonight?" She asked softly, and he lifted his head so he could look at her. She blushed when she realised how he could have interpreted her. "I mean – too sleep, I thought you might not want to be alone."

His bloodshot eyes swept over her face and she chewed her lip, determined not to cry from the sight. He sniffed and swallowed before nodding.

"Yeah, that'd be great." He said croakily, making her heart sink into her stomach at how broken he sounded.

"I love you." She stated. She didn't know why she said it, she just felt as if he could use with being reminded of it. It seemed to do the trick as a broad genuine smile stretched across his face and he pressed his lips against hers. It was so tender and soft that she wondered if she was falling a little bit more in love with him. One of his hands rested on the side of her neck, stroking her skin there, the sensation making her whimper and she slowly pulled away, knowing she couldn't let it continue for too long.

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><p>Some time passed before they reluctantly had to leave, Ron's stomach growling from the lack of food, so Hermione took some polyjuice potion and they ventured down to the kitchens. The house elves were more than eager to help and stuffed them full of food, to the point where they didn't think they could eat a single thing for the rest of the day. That was until a fresh plate of eclairs was placed infront of Ron and he felt he could squeeze a couple more in.<p>

"I'm surprised you don't mind more about us skiving off all these lessons." Ron admitted, taking a large bite out of a chocolate eclair. Hermione ran a hand through her straight loose hair, momentarily forgetting she was Daphne again.

"It's not as if it's going to do us any harm. What happened is far more important then any of that." She said quietly, unsure if what she said could result in him breaking down again. She glanced over at him and saw how he tensed, eating a little more aggressively than he needed too.

She chewed on her lip, her mind wondering back to what she'd first discovered in the morning. Despite how desperately she wanted to tell him, she couldn't help but feel it wasn't the right time. He'd already been through a lot today and if she told him how Dumbledore was the one behind his sorting into Slytherin, then that might push him over the edge. But maybe it wouldn't, maybe it would actually help him to finally have a bit of an answer. She sighed, seriously doubting the latter would occur so she stayed silent, telling herself that she would tell him when he was feeling better and she would simply face his inevitable anger then.

"Do you – do you think it was at the battle last year?" Ron asked hesitantly, referring to Lavender. He was staring down at the ground, lightly nibbling on another eclair, awaiting Hermione's answer.

"Yes. The...article said it looked like it'd been..awhile." She said slowly, doubting there'd been a time where she'd been so careful with her choice of words. Ron grimaced and put the eclair down, suddenly losing his appetite.

"I didn't get that far. I was only flicking through it cause I was bored with you gone from breakfast and then I read that – that," He took a deep breath, "That they found her body and I just kind of froze, not able to think or do anything until it really hit me what it meant. Then I bolted out of there and headed to the only place where I could feel you."

He cringed at his words but she smiled at him.

"What did Snape want this morning anyway?" He asked, wanting to change the subject.

"Oh, it was about the posters. He didn't actually want to see me it was the Carrows mainly, but they were just wondering if I'd seen anything suspicious last night patrolling." She explained, hopping off the table she was sat on.

"And as we didn't you said no." He replied, the edges of lips curving upwards.

"Naturally." She answered, her own face sharing his expression.

They thanked the house elves for their hospitality, Hermione wishing she could give them something in return for it. Maybe she could take up knitting again and give them some hats and mittens? Although she doubted Daphne would do something like that for them, given how she probably had her own house elf.

"Why did the Carrows ask to see you and not me then?" Ron asked, bringing her out of her thoughts. "You had to give them the patrolling schedule so they must have known I was with you."

"Maybe they didn't see the point in questioning both of us." She replied, not really believing her answer. Ron seemed to share her opinion as he had a doubtful expression on his face and he thought about it for a second. He yawned and quickly gave up trying to answer his question, figuring it was more hassle then it was worth. She noticed him rubbing his eyes tiredly and he yawned again.

"Do you want to get an early night?" She asked, and he smiled appreciatively at her.

"Yeah, that'd be great."

They made their way back to her dormitory and worked out it must have been around dinner time as there was virtually no-one around. Ron stopped off briefly to pick up some pyjama bottoms before following Hermione upto her room. She let him have a quick shower in her adjoined bathroom while she changed into her own pyjamas.

By the time he'd finished, she'd transformed back into 'Hermione' and was reading a book on her bed. She glanced up hearing the door open and felt her cheeks flush at the sight of him bare-chested and wet haired. She tried to remain unfazed by it, even when he roughly dryed his hair with a towel causing his chest muscles to stretch delightfully. A flood of heat spread through her stomach and she absentmindedly chewed on her lip. Considering the situation, she mentally chastisied herself for feeling such things and avoided looking at him. She felt the bed sink next to her so she guessed he was settling down next to her. She placed her book on the bedside table and turned towards him. She smiled softly, seeing how his eyes were drooping and his head was resting on the pillow, showing she didn't have to ask if he wanted to sleep. She adjusted the duvet so it was covering him too and lay down herself. His eyes were fully closed but she still felt him blindly reach for her, wrapping an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Heat prickled through her from being pressed flush against his chest, doing anything except relaxing her.

"'Mione." He mumbled, drowsiness quickly overcoming him.

"Yes." She said, shifting her head to look at him despite how he couldn't see her himself.

"Thankyou." He said, drifting off to sleep.

She relaxed at the sight almost instantly, wondering if anything could look as peaceful as him in that moment. She was beginning to feel her own exhaustion creeping through her and before she knew it, sleep had taken over her.

* * *

><p>She awoke feeling someone shaking her. She opened her eyes to see her room was in complete darkness and it took her a moment to remember exactly who was next to her. When she had, she immediately flashed her head around so she could look at him. His face was in a grimace, every part of him covered in sweat and he was trembling all over. He seemed to be murmuring something but she couldn't make it out, whatever it was didn't sound good though.<p>

"Ron." She said quietly, and his frown deepened, his hold on her tightening, his hands clutching onto her. "Ron!" She exclaimed a little louder, trying to prop herself up but couldn't with his arms around her. His whimpering became even louder so she could actually hear what he was saying,

"No, not her. Take me instead."

"Ron!" She practically shouted, managing to manouveur her arms out of his grip and shake him. It seemed to do the trick as his eyes shot open, jolting awake. His eyes flitted over the room, widening in fear as if he couldn't remember where he was until his gaze fell on her.

"Hermione." He said relieved. She looked over him concerned, noticing how his damp hair was sticking to his forehead, when he swallowed, softly stroking her cheek before running his hand through her hair. She closed her eyes briefly, marvelling at how soothing the gesture was, and she opened them just as he dove forward, smashing his lips against hers. She squeaked from the unexpectedness of it, his passion seeming to come out of nowhere, but she soon sunk into it. He pushed her onto her back, moving himself so he was lying on top of her when he slid his tongue in her mouth. She moaned, her arms snaking around his neck encouraging him to put more of his weight on her, but he resisted. He lightly sucked on her tongue, causing a flood of heat to fill her stomach, while his hands seemed to be moving all over her. Her arms, her waist, her stomach. When he'd reached her breasts, he lightly squeezed them before running his thumbs over her stiffened nipples, making her hips buck up towards his. One of his hands continued rolling her nipple between his fingers, sending sparks of pleasure through her while the other reached down to her knee, slowly gliding up, his hand wrapped firmly around her thigh.

Despite how painfully aroused she was, she tore her lips away from his but he misunderstood and continued kissing her neck instead.

"Ron." She gasped out, writhing beneath him. He lightly nipped at her skin, his hand continuing to glide up her thigh. When he was hovering over her centre, he started fingering at the line of her pyjama bottoms. "Ron, stop."

He brought his head up to look down at her and it was as if he'd suddenly realised what he'd just been doing. His eyes doubled in size and he instantly let go of her, trying to roll off her but her arms around him kept him in place.

"Fuck, Hermione, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean – I wasn't thinking I just, fuck, I didn't mean to- " He stuttered, but she placed a finger to his lips.

"You don't have to apologise for anything. Believe me, I was enjoying it." She said breathlessly, smiling.

"Are you sure? Cause I don't want to-"

"Ron, you stopped the moment I wanted you too. You've done nothing wrong. I just feel as if you're doing this because of your nightmare and, despite how great what you were doing was-" A hesitant smile spread across his face, "I can't help but think it would be better for you to talk about it."

He sighed and looked at her in disbelief.

"How is it you always know what to say?" He asked, not expecting an answer and she let go of him so he could lie next to her. She propped herself up on her side and he lay on his back, taking a deep breath - he explained, "At first it was like I was back at the battle, Snape had just walked out his office and knocked Luna, Ginny and me unconcious - but then it changed, and I actually awoke to the sounds of someone screaming. When I opened my eyes, I was in the forbidden forest and Lavender was being tortured in front of me. It was horrible. She was just screaming, shaking all over as if she was under the cruciatus curse. I tried to get to her but it was like there was something binding me to the floor, so all I could do was watch. I don't know who was cursing her but whoever it was lifted it for a second, just so she could vomit up some blood when I met her gaze for the first time."

Hermione noticed how his hands started shaking on his chest so she held onto one, letting him grip onto her.

"But then she – she changed. It was like I blinked and then it was- it was you in her place. They started torturing you and it was a thousand times worse. You were just screaming so much, it was as if I could feel it. I tried to get to you, I really did, but I couldn't. I begged them to stop but they wouldn't. I could hear your – your bones breaking and you were in so much pain, it tore me apart. Then you stopped screaming altogether and you just lay limp and I knew it was because you were, you were..." He trailed off, unable to say the words out loud. "It felt so real."

"That doesn't mean it was." She stated strongly, palming his cheek so he'd look at her. "I'm right here, I'll always be here, okay?"

He swallowed, staring into her eyes and nodded a little. She leant forward and kissed him tenderly.

"It's partly real though, isn't it? They could have tortured her like that before she died." He said, once Hermione had pulled away. She bit her lip, unsure as to how she should reply for a moment.

"Yes, she is dead and I'm so sorry about that."

He sighed and drew her closer to him.

"I just want this feeling to go away. I know I can't change anything but I still can't help feeling guilty about how I treated her before." He admitted.

"I know, I feel bad about that too." She looked over at him and saw he was staring at her intensely. "What is it?"

"This is going to sound horrible but that nightmare, it made me realise that even though I wish she hadn't died, I'm so glad it wasn't you instead." He confided, making Hermione's heart race. "Even though it wasn't real, it was so...unbearable. I couldn't take it. If that had happened to you, I don't know what I'd do. I wouldn't be able to stand it without you. I just felt so lost, like the only thing that really mattered to me had been taken away."

She felt as if she was aching inside with his confession. He sounded so broken just saying it. She could feel herself welling up.

"Ron," She said quietly. "I don't think I've ever told you this, but last year when the Dark Mark was above the forbidden forest and I heard you'd gone missing, for a few minutes there was a possibilty of you being dead. I've never been so terrified in my life. Everything else seemed to pale in comparison, the attack from Greyback, the Department of Mysteries, everything I'd ever believed to be terrifying just wasn't anymore. The mere thought of you not being here was horrific and all I could do was deny it, because if you had gone, I wouldn't ever be able to have hope in anything. I'd just be a shell of who I am. You're everything to me, Ron."

He wrapped his arms around her fully, pulling her on top of him and her leg slipped between his. He pulled her up so they were at the same level and they both buried their faces into the crooks of the other's neck.

"I love you so much, Hermione. I'll never let that happen to you. Never." He murmured, clinging onto her even more. She didn't care that it was actually hurting her a little, because all she wanted was to get closer to him.

"I love you too. Don't ever leave me." She all but begged, and he pulled away so he could look at her as he repeated himself,

"Never."

* * *

><p><strong>A:N Sorry for the no smut in this one, but as you can probably tell it wouldn't have really fit and would have been a bit distasteful.**

** Also, I'm not sure who it was, but thanks to whoever promo-ed this fic somewhere! It's gotten a lot more reviews in the past week then usual so I'm assuming someone has recommended it and I just wanted to say I really appreciated it.**

** Thanks for all the reviews guys! I do honestly love every single one.**


	33. Chapter 33

**Link to song for this chapter: www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=oWRwAyGq2Hg**

**You know what to do.**

* * *

><p><span>To Be By Your Side<span>

Chapter 33

Together

"_All the lights are on and you are alive_

_But you can't point the way to your heart_

_So sublime, when the stars are aligned_

_But you don't know_

_You don't know the greatness you are."_

_Blue Eyes – Cary Brothers_

Every night after they'd found out about Lavender's death, Ron went to sleep in Hermione's bed. It became an unspoken part of their routine, it was natural for him to do it. If he woke up from a nightmare, she'd be there to comfort him and as the nights wore on, the less he was plagued by gradually became shorter in length until the point where he was no longer having them and he managed to sleep peacefully through the night. That still didn't mean he'd left to sleep in his own bed though.

Hermione was in the middle of a shower one evening when she'd decided to tell him about Dumbledore being responsible for his sorting into Slytherin. It'd been a couple of weeks since Lavender and he seemed to be back to his normal state. At least he was smiling again.

She stepped out of the shower, determination running through her veins as she wrapped a towel around herself, putting her damp hair in a loose bun. She walked out of the bathroom to fetch her pyjamas and nearly jumped at the sight of Ron already sat on her bed.

"Ron! What are you doing here?" She exclaimed, tightening the hold she had on her towel. Ron was flicking through a book of hers half-heartedly so he didn't look up.

"Got bored." He answered, as she pulled out some pyjamas and underwear hurriedly.

"I thought you were working on that essay for Charms?" She assumed.

"Like I said, got bored." He said, smiling lopsidedly and looked up at her for the first time just as she closed the drawers. She blushed, noticing how his gaze slowly ventured down her body and back up again. His mouth hung open, seeing droplets of water trickle down her neck and into her cleavage.

"I'm just going to get changed." She announced, starting to head back into the bathroom but he jumped up and grabbed hold of her hand.

"You know you could just change in here." He offered, swinging their hands in mid-air and she rolled her eyes at him, a smile tugging at her lips.

"I must say that's an incredibly tempting offer." She replied sarcastically, and he held onto her more, pulling her towards him. She raised a hand upto his chest, preventing him from trying to kiss her, and the smile slipped off his face.

"Hermione." He said seriously, drawing all of her attention. He hesitated briefly and swallowed before continuing, "Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I feel like lately you've been holding something back from me."

She tensed, her eyes widening and bit her lip, preparing for his anger.

"I figured you'd just tell me when you're ready or you were waiting for me to be ready or something. But it's been a few weeks now so I thought maybe you needed a bit of a push."

His ears tinged pink, not really sure why it felt so awkward saying this to her. She took a breath and said,

"Do you mind if I get changed before we start talking about this?"

If it wasn't for her deadly serious tone, he probably would have laughed but instead he simply nodded.

When she'd returned, he'd sat back down on the bed so she joined him.

"Okay, before I tell you, you need to know the only reason I haven't told you yet is because of what happened. If anything had been different, I would have told you in an instant." She briefly explained, her nerves starting to get the best of her. She looked down at her hands which laid in her lap and started twiddling her thumbs before continuing, "When I went to Snape's office a couple of weeks ago, he wasn't actually there to begin with so I was alone for awhile and I saw the sorting hat." She saw him visibly tense out of the corner of her eye and she suspected that he was beginning to sense where this conversation was going. "-so I asked it about it's sortings, specifically yours. It said that it initially wanted to put you in Gryffindor but suddenly changed it's mind to put you in Slytherin. It didn't know why it did that so I suggested it might have been possible someone enchanted it and basically only two wizards alive could have done it. One of them was You Know Who and the other's Dumbledore."

She breathed in deeply once she'd finished, having not taken a single breath while explaining. She cautiously looked over at him and saw how he'd paled.

"So, it's all down to Dumbledore? Cause You Know Who was meant to be dead at the time." He asked after awhile, his voice croaking a little.

"Essentially." She replied quietly. He ran a hand through his hair frustratedly and sighed.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He said lowly, and Hermione could tell his temper was steadily rising.

"Because I knew you were hurting already and I didn't know if it would be too much for you." She confessed, preparing herself for the worst.

"That doesn't matter!" He snapped, turning to glare at her. "This is my life! Not yours! You should have told me!"

"I was trying to do what was best for you." She stated, trying to remain calm.

"What's best?" He muttered to himself in disbelief, and stood up abruptly, keeping his back to her. "This may be a shock to you but you're not always right. Only I know what's best for me!"

That put a stop to her calm composure and she looked at him furiously as he turned around to glare at her.

"Don't you dare try and pull that rubbish with me! I've been here for you and helped you through so much, so don't act as if you're the only person in the world who knows you, Ronald!" She retorted resentfully.

"That doesn't change the fact you were wrong! I don't care how I was feeling you should have told me as soon as you found out! You should know how I hate it when people hide stuff from me just because they're worried it'll hurt me in some way." He shouted back, and a pang of guilt hit her. She refused to show it though and stood up.

"But this was different! What was I supposed to do? Tell you that Dumbledore turned out to be the very source of your pain all these years while you were mourning over someone's death? I couldn't do that to you! I was afraid it would push you over the edge."

"What's that supposed to mean? You thought I'd try and commit suicide or something?" He spat, and she flinched from his tone.

"No, just something stupid – I don't know what exactly, but you so often act on your emotions that it can sometimes do you more harm than good." He scoffed in response but didn't say anything. "Look, I'm sorry, I understand that you would have wanted to me to tell you sooner but I promise I was only doing what I thought was best."

He looked her in the eye, something he'd been avoiding doing since they'd started arguing, and she felt her heartbreaking at the sight. He didn't seem angry anymore, he just looked at her as if she'd betrayed him. As if he couldn't recognise who she was.

She wanted to reach out to him and she nearly did, taking a step closer to him but he backed away from her. She couldn't hide how crestfallen it made her and he caught sight of it, his jaw tightening when he did. He shook his head in disbelief, not believing that she could feel hurt after what she'd done to him.

"I need some air." He let out, and started heading towards the door. A sharp jolt of fear spread through her, her eyes widening from his statement. Everytime one of them had walked away from an argument, it always amounted to them not speaking for awhile.

"No, Ron, you need to stay. We have to-" She started, taking hold of his hand but he pulled it out of her grip instantly.

"Don't, Hermione! I know what I need right now and that's to be away from you."

He left the room, slamming the door behind him and she felt as if a great blow had been delivered to her stomach. She shakily sat down on the bed and took her hair out of the bun it had been in. She put a quick drying spell on it, trying not to focus on what had just happened.

It was impossible though. She'd been so sure that she'd done the right thing, but now she wasn't so sure. Ultimately, she'd kept something from him that he'd spent years wanting to have an explanation for. And while it wasn't a full answer, it was still part of it and she'd made him wait longer for that. She honestly didn't know what to think.

She crawled up the length of her bed and got under the covers. She pulled them right upto her chin and clenched onto them as tears started trailing down her cheeks.

* * *

><p>At some point, she must have fallen asleep since she found herself being jolted awake by the sound of her door opening. Knowing only one person was able to get through the enchantments she'd placed on it, she remained as she was but kept her eyes open. He moved over to where she lay and she felt the bed dip on his side. She guessed by his shuffling that he was lying down on top of the covers next to her. His arm went over her waist and she felt him softly kiss her behind her ear, making her eyes close, a contented sigh escaped her lips.<p>

"I'm sorry." He whispered, and she opened her eyes, turning her head so she could look at him. She reached up, moving his hair away from his eyes and noticed how glazed over they looked. "I shouldn't have shouted at you like that."

"I'm sorry too." She replied. "I should have told you sooner."

"No, you were right, I do act on my emotions too much-" He started, but she placed a finger on his lips.

"That doesn't change the fact I should have told you and I'm so sorry about that. I promise it'll never happen again." He smiled appreciatively at her and she removed her finger. He softly grazed his thumb over the tear tracks on her cheek, frowning at the thought of her alone and crying over him.

"I'm still sorry though."

She smiled at him and shifted so the covers were also over him before she turned herself towards him. She leant forward and tenderly kissed his lips as she wrapped herself around him, curling her leg around his and sliding her arm around his shoulders. His snaked around her waist as he pulled her on top of him, not breaking their kiss. When she pulled away, they both smiled at eachother again, knowing all had been forgiven and she rested her head on his chest, settling down to sleep once more.

* * *

><p>A few days passed where Ron and Hermione were happy. At least as happy as they could be with the situation they were in. They were sat in the library at their usual table, Hermione half-heartedly trying to find more information about Horcruxes. While Ron had been helping at first, he'd quickly given up and was resting his head on the desk.<p>

"Glad it's only two weeks until the Christmas holidays." He mumbled, his eyes closed with his head turned towards her. "This term has been so exhausting."

"I can't argue with that." She agreed, closing the book she'd been reading. Hearing it, he opened his eyes.

"Find anything?" He asked hopefully, but she shook her head.

"Not anything that we didn't know already." She answered disappointedly, and he lifted his head up, smiling sadly.

"Oh well. Do you want to do more research?"

"I don't think I can, do you want to just head up to my room now?"

"Yeah, sounds great."

They put the books she'd used into a couple of piles and were just about to place them back on the shelves when a breathless Ginny hurtled around the corner, drenched in sweat with her skin tinged a sickly colour.

"Thank Merlin you're here. I've been trying to find you for ages!" She exclaimed, coming to an abrupt halt in front of them.

"What's wrong, Gin? What's happened?" Ron asked immediately, placing a reassuring hand on her arm.

"Neville," She swallowed and took a breath, "Neville's just been crucioed."

Hermione felt ice trickle through her from the news, a sense of dread beginning to fill her.

"What? Who did it?" Ron questioned, no longer feeling tired.

"I-I don't know. Seamus and I just found him lying in a corridor barely concious – that was all he could say before he fainted, so Seamus took him upto the Room of Requirement. I just had to get some help and you were the first people I could think of." She rambled, sounding close to hysterical. Hermione forced down her own fear and picked up her bag.

"Well, first thing we'll have to do is go to the hospital wing and get some healing potions." She said matter of factly.

"I already tried that but the Carrows are outside the hospital wing guarding it, to make sure no-one helps him." Ginny replied, making Hermione's hopes sink.

"Should we create a distraction then?" Ron suggested, causing an idea to pop into Hermione's head.

"Ginny, do you still have those posters?"

* * *

><p>"Professors!" Hermione exclaimed, running down the corridor that lead to the hospital wing and the Carrows flashed around. "You have to come with me! More of those posters have been put up!"<p>

"What?" Alecto snapped, her anger shooting up to boiling point. "Did you see who did it?"

"No, I don't know how long they've been up, but they're all along the fourth and fifth floors! I'm not sure how to take them down as they've got some kind of sticking charm on them so I thought I should let you know rather than trying to take them down myself." She explained quickly, but it looked as if the Carrows weren't paying attention to her as they were silently communicating with eachother.

"How many were there?" Amycus asked, his eyes never leaving his sister.

"Must be a couple of hundred at least." She replied, and they sighed.

"Lead the way then." Alecto said begrudgingly, and the three of them hurried up to the fourth floor. Both Alecto and Amycus simultaneously tensed at the sight of Harry's face all along the walls accompanied with encouraging messages rather than ones of hate.

"This is going to take all afternoon if there's this many on the other floor." Amycus said furiously, taking out his wand.

"I'll start on the fifth floor." Alecto sighed, and she turned around to go back to the grand staircase.

"I could keep an eye out at the hospital wing if you want." Hermione suggested, making sure she didn't sound too enthusiastic about the idea.

"Yes, just make sure whoever goes in doesn't come out with any healing potions. Apparently that bitch of a healer's been giving them out to anyone who requests them, search their bags if you have to." Amycus instructed, starting to set to work.

"No problem." Hermione said with a grin, and rushed back to the hospital wing. Just as she got there, Ron and Ginny were coming out, both of their school bags looking very full.

"They taking them down now?" Ginny asked, still looking pale.

"Yeah, they should be proccupied for a few hours so I have to stay here until they come back." Hermione explained breathlessly.

"Okay,do you want me to come back here after I drop the potions off?" Ron asked, and she smiled softly at him.

"No, I'll be fine. Just both of you take care of Neville. I'll come up to the room once I'm done here." Hermione said, starting to walk towards the hospital wing.

"All right, see you in a bit then." Ginny said, and the pair of them continued walking.

Hermione sat outside the hospital wing, wanting to read but couldn't, not just because it would be odd with her pretence. She couldn't help but worry about everything that was happening. Why had Neville been tortured? Had it really gotten to the point where it was simply being done for no reason other than as a way of the Carrows to entertain themselves? Or was there more too it? The questions whirled around her mind, none of them getting answered.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there for but at one point she must have fallen asleep as she suddenly awoke, her head slipping off the wall she'd been resting it on. She checked the time, noticing how it was around dinner, and took a sip of her potion. She sat there for another ten minutes or so before Alecto appeared, walking briskly towards her with a disgruntled expression.

"Okay Greengrass, you can go now. I'll take over from here." She said, and Hermione stood up. "Did you catch anyone trying to get any potions?"

"No, no-one came at all." She said, slowly starting to walk away.

"Suppose that's good." Alecto said, more to herself than to Hermione and took her seat. Not knowing what else to say, Hermione left and headed towards the grand staircase. Once out of Alecto's eyesight, she hurried her walking and when she was on the seventh floor she took off into a sprint, not stopping until she was in front of the wall where the Room of Requirement was. She thought of a place where she needed a safe place to heal three times before a door appeared in front of her. Hurrying inside, she was met with the same room that had appeared when they'd brought an injured Seamus and a few first years. Except this time, it was Neville taking Seamus's place in a bed.

Ron, Ginny and Seamus were sat around him with the potions laid out on the bed opposite him. She noticed how two were open on the bedside table next to him and figured that Neville must have woken up during the time she was gone and taken them.

"How is he?" She asked, walking towards them, her eyes never leaving Neville's sleeping form. She was shocked to see how there wasn't an inch of his skin that wasn't tinged black or blue. His face had some scratches on it, giving the impression he'd been dragged across the floor and his right eye looked painfully swollen.

When she didn't hear a response, she turned around to look at the three of them and felt her heart sink to her stomach at the sight. Seamus had his head hung low, his face obscured from her view. Ron was tensed all over, his arm wrapped protectively around Ginny who was sat next to him. It was the young girl's expression which really tore her apart. Ginny had her head resting on Ron's shoulder and there were tear tracks on her cheeks. She still looked horribly pale but now there was an empty look in her eyes, as if she couldn't feel anything anymore.

"What happened?" Hermione asked, unable to stop the tremor in her voice. Ron looked down at Ginny while he started rubbing his hand up and down her arm soothingly, noticing her blank stare that meant she wasn't paying attention to them.

"When Neville woke up, he told us that the reason he'd been crucioed was because he had been with Luna at the time. They were just walking down a corridor heading to the common room when the Carrows appeared out of nowhere and imperiused Luna. He tried to stop them but they just tortured him until he fainted." Ron explained briefly, making Hermione frown.

"But why would they do that?" She asked.

"Because the Death Eaters had finally gotten tired of all the support Xenophilius was giving Harry in the Quibbler." Seamus said, lifting his head up. "Neville'd told me before that he was worried about it, saying they'd been prejudiced towards Luna from the start of the year – giving her detentions for no reason, using her to perform unforgivables on. Guess they'd finally gotten tired of warning Xenophilius to stop and decided the best way to do it was to take her hostage."

"Take her? Take her where?" Hermione said alarmed.

"Your guess is as good as mine. All we know is that she's definitely not here."

Suddenly she understood why Ginny was reacting the way she was. Luna had been the closest friend she'd had and to have her taken away like that, on top of everything else that was happening, it was a miracle she wasn't suffering from some kind of mental breakdown.

She blinked a few times and looked at Hermione, finally realising she was there. She swallowed and took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she did, releasing another tear. Hermione desperately wanted to say something reassuring, to try and comfort her but didn't know how she could with her being Daphne. Seamus couldn't know who she really was and she wasn't about to let him.

"Well, I should probably go. I just came up here to let you know that the Carrows don't suspect anything." She said, shifting her feet awkwardly, trying to appear as if she didn't know how to act around her boyfriend's upset sister.

"Okay, thanks." Ron said appreciatively, giving her a look that he understood why she was leaving.

"I'll see you later."

She pecked his cheek before exitting and let out a long breath, wondering what else could go wrong. She headed back to the Slytherin common room, not knowing what else she could do for the time being, running into Ingrid on the way.

"Oh, hi Daph', where've you been?" Ingrid greeted impatiently, looking disappointed to see her.

"I was just doing some head-girl stuff that the Carrows wanted me to do, where you off too?" Hermione asked, making Ingrid's eyes widen.

"Umm I was – I've got a study session with Eva." She answered hesitantly, and Hermione's eyebrows shot up.

"Okay – actually, would you mind if I tagged along? I've got a Transfiguration essay I could do." Hermione said, itching to do anything that could take her mind of of things.

"No!" Ingrid exclaimed, nearly making her jump. "I mean we're just going to be doing umm Herbology which I'm failing in so I could really do with the time alone with her."

Ingrid's cheeks blushed red and Hermione tried not to show how she knew she was lying.

"All right then. I'll see you later." She said, and Ingrid didn't even say goodbye before rushing off. Hermione continued making her way to the common room, telling herself not to think too much of the odd run in she had. Even though she told herself that, she still couldn't stop herself. Was it possible that Ingrid and Eva were starting to suspect something?

She felt a headache coming on, the stress of everything weighing in on her so she decided to call it an early night and went upto her dormitory straight away. She took a long shower like she was trying to wash away the day completely but still felt it cling onto her. She eventually gave up and dried herself off, changing into some pyjamas.

Frustration was building up inside of her with all these unanswered questions. Could Ingrid and Eva really be thinking that she may not actually be Daphne? If not, why had Ingrid been acting so strange? Where had Luna been taken too? Was she even alive? How would Ginny cope without her? Would Neville heal from the attack okay? And, one that had been plaguing her mind for some time, why had Dumbledore put Ron in Slytherin?

The door opened and Ron came in looking exhausted. She magically dried her hair as he collapsed on the bed beside her, lying on his back with his eyes closed. She lay down as well, feeling all her energy seeping out of her.

"How's Neville doing?" She asked, her eyes closing at their own accord.

"He'd woken up so we just gave him more healing and sleeping potions, he was in too much pain to stay awake for very long. Seamus decided he'd stay in the Room of Requirement with him for the night and Ginny's back in the Gryffindor common room explaining what happened." He informed her, and let out a yawn.

"How is she?" Hermione asked hesitantly, and heard Ron sigh while she turned on her side, facing him.

"Same really as before. I just hope she doesn't get any worse." Ron let out, somehow knowing she would.

"We can be there for her if she does though." She said slowly, making Ron open his eyes. He glanced over her, noting her steady breathing and closed eyes. He smiled softly at the sight and adjusted the duvet so it was covering her.

* * *

><p>Days passed with Hermione and Ron coming no closer to answering the questions they so desperately wanted answers for. Neville was still in very poor shape and had only been able to move into the Gryffindor common room with the assistance of Seamus and Ginny. Ever since, he'd practically remained bed ridden; constantly taking pain medication and only stayed awake long enough to eat. Ginny had remained very much the same. She'd essentially closed herself off from feeling anything and walked around with a blank look in her eyes, as if she was awake but didn't know it. But, she could only hold everything in for so long before she broke down.<p>

It was for that reason Hermione found herself alone one night, unable to comfort Ginny properly with her facade and was planning to go back to her dormitory until her patrol with Ron, since Ingrid and Eva still seemed intent on avoiding her.

She'd just rounded the corner to the Slytherin common room entrance when she ran into Draco.

"Oh, hi Draco." She said uncomfortably, stopping her walking.

"Daph', long time no see." He greeted, smiling at her. She felt the look didn't suit him but maybe that was due to how obviously forced it was.

"Yeah, sorry about that. This term's just been a bit hectic, you know?" She replied, sniggering a little and he joined in with her.

"Know what you mean, thing's are definitely different now." He commented with a slight bitter tone. She frowned, assuming he would be pleased, but he quickly added, "Listen, you mind if we talk? Just feel like we should catch-up or something."

"Sure." She said, wanting to say the opposite but knew she couldn't. He turned back around and they headed inside the empty common room.

"So how's Astoria doing?" He asked instantly, as they sat down on a sofa.

"Better but still pretty bad. She has to stay at St Mungo's for another week but they think she should be okay to come home after that." Hermione explained, with a fake smile on her face.  
>"That's good. You reckon it'd be all right for me to go see her this weekend?" He asked hopefully, making Hermione tense, not expecting him to ask her that.<p>

"Urr I don't think they're letting anyone see her cause of how contagious it is." She lied, saying the first thing that came into her mind.

"Yeah, figured you'd tell me that." He said sighing, hanging his head low. There was such disappointment in his tone that she couldn't hide her surprise, never expecting him to care about Astoria so much.

"Sorry." She apologised half-heartedly, seeing him pinch the bridge of his nose with his eyes shut.  
>"I'm just worried about her, you know. She's been sick for so long." He let out, making her fidget awkwardly, uncomfortable with how much she was discovering about him. If it had been anyone else she may have felt sympathetic for them. It was that thought in mind which caused her to say,<p>

"She's getting better though."

He took a deep breath and relaxed, opening his eyes again.

"Really? You're not just saying that to make me feel better?" He asked hesitantly, his voice full of doubt. She did her best to put a reassuring smile on her face.

"You know I wouldn't." She said lightly, and his reluctance to believe her dissipated.

"Okay, thanks." He said earnestly.

They sat in silence for a moment or two before Draco remembered why he'd wanted to talk to her.

"Listen, I did actually want to talk to you about something." He announced, sending a cold chill through her.

"Okay." She said, trying to sound nonchalant about it. He seemed to be working his way into a state again which couldn't mean they were about to discuss something pleasant.

"Look, I'm worried about you." He stated, taking her aback.

"Why? I'm doing what I can to show my support to the-the Dark Lord so my family doesn't get hurt. You know I am." She defended, looking at him wide-eyed and innocently.

"It's not about that."

"Then what is it?" She asked, trying not to let her voice give away her suspicions about what the conversation could be alluding too.

"It's – it's about Weasley."

"What about him?" She questioned, still maintaining her innocent composure when an anger was threatening to build up inside of her.

"You're not... you don't actually like him, do you?" He muttered grimacing, sounding as if the the thought of it was one of the most repellant things imaginable. The anger that had been threatening to build up had now virtually consumed her and it took all of her self-control to not unleash it all upon him.

"No, of course I don't." She said, managing to let out a dry laugh which she prayed didn't sound as forced as she imagined it did. She guessed by him raising a brow at her, it did.

"Really? Cause you're spending so much time with him it's hard to tell." Draco snapped condescendingly, and instead of bellowing at him like she longed to, she let out a dramatic sigh.

"I have to make it as believable as possible though. I don't feel anything for him. I hate being with him. It's just something I have to do." She explained, straightening out the pleats in her skirt, sounding miserable. Draco looked as if he was buying it as she noticed him looking at her sympathetically. It vanished quickly though when he edged closer to her.

"But, he's not making you think differently, is he?" He said lowly, making sure no-one else could overhear them.

"What do you mean?" She asked frowning.

"He's not forcing you to become a bloodtraitor like him." Draco said, making her teeth grit. His gaze was fixed upon her as she realised that they'd reached the topic he'd been wanting to talk to her about along.

"No. I mean, he asked me what I think of them but I just changed the subject and we haven't talked about it since." She said casually, and Draco smiled.

"Okay, good. That's all I was really worried about." He admitted, and she reluctantly smiled at him.

"Yeah, you don't need too. I won't be caring about those mudbloods anytime soon." She said, laughing some more, hating herself for having to say _that_ word.

"Great. Certainly a lot off my mind."

He sat back in the sofa and she tried not to show how disgusted she was feeling with herself. She briefly thought of how odd it was that she'd never resorted to saying it before, given the amount of weeks she'd spent being Daphne, but then she'd never had to talk about it. She'd only really talked with Eva and Ingrid as Daphne since they were closest to her and they'd naturally assumed her opinion hadn't changed on them, even though she was with Ron. Either that or they didn't want to bring it up in fear of how she could react.

It was that thought in mind which reminded her of how they'd been with her recently and with her wanting to focus on anything except her anger and disgust, she asked,

"Draco, have you noticed anything odd about Ingrid and Eva lately?"

"Why? They avoiding you or something?" He asked frowning, and she nodded.

"Yeah, I don't get it. We haven't had an argument or anything." She said, that arguably being the most truthful thing she'd said in their conversation.

"I don't know Daph. If it helps I haven't spoken to them lately either or seen them really – so they're probably not avoiding just you. I could ask if Blaise or Pansy's seen them as well if you want." He suggested, not really sounding concerned as he loosened his tie with one hand.

"Thanks Draco, I'd appreciate that." She said, and gently squeezed his hand, trying to ignore how she wanted to recoil from the action. He smiled at her genuinely for the first time and she attempted to return it, holding his gaze despite how strong the temptation was to avoid it. She kept up the contact for a few seconds before letting go of his hand and averted her gaze, glancing at the time.

"Well, I've got to do my patrols now." She announced irritably, when really she was thankful for it.

"All right, I'll see you later." He replied, and she smiled at him before leaving. Once she was out of his sight, she dropped the smile, the nausea remaining in her stomach. She was surprised to see that just as she was exitting through the portrait hole a dripping wet Ron was just coming in.

"Ron! What?" She asked, as he sniffed and rubbed at his red nose.

"Ginny was outside, caught her trying to break into the Quidditch supply room for a broom to go flying." He explained, pulling out his wand and muttered a drying charm.

"In this weather?" She exclaimed, her eyebrows shooting up while she pulled his hands towards her with his palms up.

"Yeah, she just said she wanted to let go of everything and she only felt that way when flying." He replied, as Hermione cast the bluebell flames in his hands to warm him up. She was reminded of how Ron had said a remarkably similar thing on a different occasion but didn't dwell on it.

"How bad was it?" She said hesitantly when they started walking and he let out a sigh.

"I'd just never seen her cry like that – without holding anything back." He murmured, more to himself than her, causing her to look over at him. His eyes misted over as he stared into the flame and all she wanted to do in that moment was alleviate him of his pain and Ginny of hers. It was just so unfair what they were all going through, to say the least. They'd barely been given any peace since they started the year and she wasn't sure how much more any of them could take. The only time she felt like she could breath was when she was with him privately and she'd found herself clinging onto those moments more and more recently, so there was no telling how Ginny could be coping, because the one person she needed couldn't be there for her.

Hermione placed a reassuring hand on Ron's arm, jerking him away from his thoughts.

"I'm sure you did all you could to help her." She said softly, and he smiled sheepishly, the sadness in his face drifting away.

"She did seem better when I left." He admitted.

"You see." She replied, a small smile on her face but his dissolved.

"I mean - she wasn't depressed anymore, just angry."

"How angry?" Hermione asked, sensing this conversation wasn't leading anywhere good.

"Furious. Said she wants to start up a second rebel plan on a much bigger scale."

"Oh, that's great! What did she have in mind?" She asked relieved, oblivious to Ron's nervousness.

"She wants to steal the sword of Gryffindor." He reluctantly told her, knowing she wasn't going to like the idea.

"What? As in breaking into Snape's office?"

"Yeah, kind of." He mumbled, and waved the bluebell flames off his hands, no longer cold. He was deliberately looking at the floor and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"What is it you're not telling me?"

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Well, I might have mentioned to her that when you went to the office it let you in without the password." He confessed, preparing himself for her outrage.

"But that was just because the door wasn't closed properly! Snape said-"

"And since when is Snape such a trustworthy guy? There's got to be more too it then that." He refuted heatedly, and she looked over him. She'd assumed only Ginny was interested in doing it but it was becoming clearer that Ron was invested in the idea too.

"Wait, do you want to go through with this too?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"There are just so many risks involved! If we get caught, we'll be put in detention for sure and you know what that consists of these days."

"If we don't though, think of what that could do! It'd show that the Carrows and Snape aren't all that powerful and might convince other students to start rebelling too." He said enthusiastically, and she begrudgingly admitted there was truth in his statement.

"I guess it would but what are we doing with the sword once we've got it? The first place they'll look is the Gryffindor dormitories."

Ron's ears tinged pink and he scratched the back of his neck embarassed, reluctant to answer. It only took a second for her to work out what it meant.

"Oh no, you said I could keep hold of it, didn't you?" She said, only able to think about how Eva and Ingrid were possibly suspecting her already. If she got caught with the sword of Gryffindor, that would be all the proof they'd need to know she wasn't Daphne.

"I didn't think it'd be that big of a deal! You've got all those enchantments up anyway and they definitely wouldn't look there."

"But what about getting it through the Slytherin common room? A sword is pretty noticeable and there's no way we can hide it."

"We thought we could just shrink it down and put it in your bag or something."

"What if the spell doesn't work on it though? It is enchanted after all."

"Yeah but you told me that the sword came to Harry through the sorting hat because he needed the help and was a true Gryffindor. We need help, you and Ginny are true Gryffindors – whatever that is – so why wouldn't it cooperate with us?" Ron explained, unable to stop the resentment seeping into his tone when referring to her house.

She chewed her lip absentmindedly, thinking over what he said. She knew he made a very vaild point, but there was just so much at stake.

"Look Hermione, I know you're worried about what could happen if something goes wrong but if we're going to win this war then we need more people on our side, willing to put up a fight. How can we do that if we're not even willing to do that ourselves?"

She blinked several times, his words sinking in and realised how true it was. She couldn't worry about the consequences, she had to do it to help. She couldn't worry about herself.

"You're right." She stated, taking him by surprise.

"Really?" He said in disbelief, thinking it would take more for her to cave in.

"Yes. It'd be hypocritical of me not to do it so, what's the plan?" She asked, ignoring his stunned expression.

"Urr we haven't really thought that up yet properly."

"In that case, we should meet up with her tomorrow and discuss it. Best place would be the Room of Requirement."

"Sounds good."

They walked in a tense silence for a few minutes, thinking over the plan that was soon to be set in motion until Ron awkwardly cleared his throat.

"So, what did you do when I was gone?" He asked, hoping to have a less heated conversation.

She briefly explained the conversation she had with Draco, mentally preparing herself for the inevitable tirade of how much a twat Malfoy was when she was met with silence. She cautiously looked over at Ron and her eyebrows shot up seeing the concerned expression on his face.

"Are you okay? That couldn't have been easy for you to say that." He said, making the edges of her lips curve up. She wondered if she'd ever not be surprised by his concern for her.

"It wasn't but I don't feel as bad now."

"That wanker. I swear all he cares about is being a prejudiced prick." Ron grumbled, saying what she'd first expected he would. While Hermione mostly agreed with him, she couldn't help but remember how distraught Draco'd been when he asked about Astoria's state.

Hermione didn't say anything in response as Ron sighed, trying not to get worked up over it.

"So why'd you think Eva and Ingrid are avoiding you? You don't think it's because they're suspect something, do you?" Ron said, going pale at the mere thought of it being true.

"In all honesty, that's the only explanation I could think for it. I just don't understand why they would have wasted time and not told Snape or someone about it first. I suppose they might be waiting for evidential proof but I've been so careful already, I don't know what else I can do to seem more believable."

"You're doing great okay, don't doubt that. Maybe we shouldn't jump to conclusions. There might be some kind of other explanation for it." Ron's expression showed how even he wasn't really believing the words that were coming out of his mouth.

"Like what?" She asked doubtfully.

"When's Daphne's birthday? They might be planning something and not want you to find out." He internally groaned at his poor example.

"It's not till February." Hermione sighed.

"Oh, but still, we don't have any idea what it could be about so maybe we should-"

Ron stopped abruptly as they both heard something from the nearest classroom. They frowned at eachother, not knowing what it was exactly, but they hesitantly made their way towards the room when they heard a loud giggle. They both let out sighs of relief, knowing what to expect.

"Probably some kids sneaking out." Ron stated, opening the door to have the smile wiped off his face with the sight met before them. In all accounts, their suspicions had been correct but it was who they found which made it so surprising. It was almost hard to tell who it was at first because the couple were wrapped so tightly around eachother, their lips glued together, hands hidden underneath the other's clothing. It was only when they stopped their kissing that Hermione let out a gasp, seeing it was Eva and Ingrid infront of her. Ron's eyes widened and his hold on the door handle tightened.

Eva's flushed face paled instantly and she took a small step away from Ingrid, who was sat propped up on a desk, slipping her hand out from underneath Ingrid's blouse.

"This isn't what it looks like." Eva said immediately with no hint of emotion.

"Oh as if Eva! What's the point in hiding it anymore? I was only going along with it because you didn't want anyone to know for some stupid reason." Ingrid snapped, not feeling the need to pull down her skirt that was hiked up her legs or button up the top buttons on her blouse.

"Excuse me if I don't want everyone knowing about my personal life." Eva retorted, turning her attention back to her.

"That's hypocritical considering you seem to be able to know everybody else's just by the clothes they choose to wear. For all we know, someone might have done the same thing to you."

"Please, no-one here's smart enough to do that aside from me." Eva refuted, sounding as if she was stating a fact rather than being boastful.

"Either way, what does it matter. Daph knows now and she doesn't care, do you Daph?" Ingrid said, looking at Hermione.

"Umm, no, not really." Hermione replied hesitantly, her cheeks turning a brilliant shade of pink.

"You see! And since when do you care about anyone's opinion except for hers and mine?" Ingrid said, turning her attention back to Eva.

"You don't get it! You're used to this kind of attention! You do it all the time, I don't." Eva shouted, pointing her finger accusingly at Ingrid.

"What? Are you honestly saying you're embarassed about-" Ingrid said, stifling a laugh, having never expected that to be the reason.

"Yes! No-one thinks about me in a sexual way and I don't know how to respond when people do!"

"I thought it was because you'd be outed as a lesbian." Ingrid admitted casually, and Eva looked at her as if she'd asked an absurdly stupid question.

"No, why would I care about people knowing that?"

Ingrid shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know. For the same reason you're embarassed about being viewed as a sexual person, I guess."

"I'm not embarassed about it I just don't know how to respond too it! I'm no good in social situations, you know that."

"Maybe we should leave them too it." Ron said quietly to Hermione, it becoming clear that Ingrid and Eva couldn't care less about the audience they had or were now oblivious too.

"But it's past curfew we're supposed to-" Hermione started, to be cut off by Ingrid's shouting,

"You don't give a damn what anyone thinks of you so why does it matter all of a sudden?"

"I don't know!" Eva screamed back, sounding a tad over-dramatic, causing Ingrid to scrutinise her.

"You're lying, it's because it's me, isn't it? You don't want people to know you're with me!" Ingrid accused, hurt evident in her voice.

"Don't be ridiculous, Ingrid!" Eva replied, waving her off. Ingrid hopped off the desk and took a deep breath.

"I'm not! You think you're so great at not showing your emotions but you've forgotten I know you! I know when you're lying and you're doing it now!"

"Ing-"

"Wouldn't want to be seen with a whore like me, right?"

"Actually, I think it's best we do go." Hermione relented, and her and Ron quietly exitted the room. They slowly started walking, neither sure of what to say for awhile.

"Well, at least we don't have to worry about them suspecting something about you." He said lightly.

"Yes, that's a relief." She said dazedly. "Did you ever think anything like that was going on between them?"

"No, had no idea." He admitted, running a hand through his hair.

"Me either."

An awkward silence was brewing between the two, both of them clueless on what to talk about. She looked over at Ron and noticed how his ears were pink and a blush was working its way up his neck. She frowned at him momentarily before it dawned on her what he was thinking about.

"Oh don't tell me you're thinking about them!" She snapped appalled, making his cheeks redden even more.

"What? I can't help it! You saw where her hand was, didn't you? She was fin-"

"Yes, I was well aware of what they were doing, but I'm not thinking about that now and neither should you."

"But-"

"No, just think for a second. If someone had walked in on me and you doing that, would you want them thinking about it?"

"I guess you're right." He sighed, her question causing another image to appear in his mind. She closed her eyes regretfully, not even having to look at him to know what he was doing.

"You're thinking about us like that now, aren't you?" She said, no longer sounding disappointed since she'd been imagining the very same thing. He sniggered and replied,

"No problem with that, is there?"

"None at all." She replied coyly, making him grin, both of them knowing what was going to happen the second they were back in her room and she'd transformed back into herself.

"Come on then." He said, taking hold of her hand and they sprinted to her dormitory, her unable to stop laughing the entire way.

Luckily, she had been due to take the potion anyway so they barely had to wait a few minutes before she was 'Hermione' again. She had just been kicking off her shoes when she felt Ron's arms encircling her waist from behind and his lips on her neck. She let out a small giggle, reaching up to run her hand through his hair while her other hand lay on top of his on her hip.

"Someone's eager." She noted smirking.

"It's been ages." He murmured against her skin, before trailing kisses up the side of her neck.

"I hardly think two days is 'ages'." She retorted, earning her a sharp nip on her skin from him making the smile vanish off her face, a flood of heat filling her stomach.

"It bloody well is." He said huskily, before licking the spot where he bit her so her mouth fell open, her heart starting to race. She clenched onto his hair, feeling one of his hands edging upwards to undo the buttons on her blouse and she quickly assisted him in getting rid of it. A sigh escaped her lips as he found that pleasurable spot behind her ear and he lay his hands on her bare stomach, exciting her more.

"But if you think you can hold out a bit longer." He teased, his lips so close to her that she could feel his hot breath. He didn't miss how she tensed from it, her teeth clamping down on her bottom lip so she wouldn't let out a moan.

"That depends on whether you can really." She murmured breathlessly, reaching around behind her where she grabbed hold of his trousers, pulling him flush against her. She heard his breath hitch in his throat, feeling the tell tale sign of his arousal against the small of her back. She smiled and deliberately arched her back making him stiffen even more. "Because it seems to me that you might not be able to take much more."

He swallowed and took a breath before lowering his hand to the lining of her skirt and started running the tips of his fingers across her lower abdomen. Pleasurable shivers crept up her spine from the sensation and she did her best to ignore the pulsating of her centre.

"I think I can take it." He murmured huskily, a satisfied smile appearing on his face as it made her tremble. Not wanting him to get the upper-hand, she slowly turned around in his hold so they were face to face and slowly took his shirt off.

"Really?" She questioned, sliding her hands up his chest before wrapping her arms around his neck, bringing them to a more even level as she went on her toes. She mentally readied herself, knowing if what she was about to say was going to be believable then she'd have to make it sound effortless. "So if I said all I wanted to do was make you come, that would have no effect?"

She noticed his eyes widen and he instinctively pulled her even closer to him. He didn't answer, only parting his mouth so he could take deeper breaths.

"Well?" She said, edging her lips closer to his. "Would it?"

It looked as if he was trying to think of a clever retort but he gave up, barely managing to say, "Fuck it," before his lips crashed onto hers.

It wasn't soft and sweet but demanding and hard, desperation clawing through any attempts of seeming so. His hands slid to her arse, tongue sliding into her mouth and she let out a long moan, heat prickling through every inch of her skin. Her toes were beginning to ache from maintaining their position so she started pushing him towards the bed until they were both sprawled on top of it.

She was beginning to feel the familiar ache in her middle when he started grinding his hips against hers as she lay on top of him. She abruptly broke their kissing and sat up, an idea sparking in her mind. His head fell back against the pillow, no longer tilting up to meet hers, making him groan and he asked,

"Why'd you stop?"

Not hearing her respond, he lazily opened his eyes and smiled at the sight of her; her lips plump from their kissing, her cheeks stained red and her hair thoroughly messed. It took him a second to see she was looking a little nervous until he saw her hands were positioned at her back.

She saw his adam's apple bob up and down and he sat up a little, resting back on his forearms. She took in the reassuring smile on his face which gave her the confidence needed to remove her bra completely. Despite how badly she wanted to look away in embarassment, she maintained the gaze, not sure how to feel as she'd never been completely bare before him. He tensed considerably, his breath hitching in his throat. If he thought the sight of her before was a pleasant one, it was nothing compared to this one. She bit her lip anxiously, wanting him to say something but unsure on what. He was just staring at her chest making it tempting for her to cover herself up. He eventually drifted his gaze upwards with nothing but adoration for her written in his features.

"Trust me, you've got nothing to be nervous about." He confessed, making her smile and she leant forward, pulling him in for a slow kiss. His hands moved up from her waist until he was grazing the sides of her breasts. She held her breath in anticipation but he kept his hands where they were, his thumbs stroking her skin. She felt her nipples stiffen from the contact, all her anxiousness melting away as desire pooled over her. Her lips became more insistent on his as she sucked on his bottom one and pushed him back more so he was lying down again. When his thumb finally swept over her nipple, she gasped from the jolt it sent through her, involuntarily stopping their kissing. He used the chance though to roll them over so he was on top of her and he started kissing her neck while he gently massaged her breasts. All she could do was lie breathless beneath him, her fingertips digging into his back as the pleasure he was inducing overwhelmed her.

"So beautiful." He mumbled against her skin, his kisses trailing down her neck. She dug her fingers into his skin even more until she was practically clawing at him, his head now level with her chest.

"Please." She begged, knowing he wouldn't do it without her approval first. When she felt his tongue swirling around her nipple, she couldn't have stopped herself from crying out, the sensation sending sparks of euphoria straight to her core. She wrapped her legs around him, wanting to feel every inch of him against her and arched her back when he started sucking on her. The pounding between her legs was beginning to become unbearable as he began paying attention to her other breast, licking and sucking and nibbling on her tender skin. A burning heat seemed to be flowing through her veins since she started sweating and she swallowed, trying to soothe her dry throat.

"Ron," She whined, sure he knew what she was going through but merely wanted to tease her.

"What do you want, Hermione?" He asked, never stopping his minstrations. She was sure her legs would be trembling if they weren't clamped around him like a vice.

"Please." She moaned, scrambling to unzip her skirt.

"Tell me what you want me to do." He said more insistently, and in some crevice of her mind that wasn't fogged with lust she was sure this was payback for what she did to him earlier.

"You know." She said shakily, untangling her legs from him and he helped her take her skirt off.

"Open your eyes and tell me." He demanded, and she did as instructed to see him directly above her. She swallowed and licked her lips, not missing how his eyes darted down as she did it.

"I want you to make me come." She said, trying to make it sound like a statement rather than a plea. She felt rather than saw what the comment did to him as his hips instinctively bucked against hers.

"Now was that difficult?" He said cheekily, nearly making her scowl at him and she would have responded if he hadn't chosen to instantly start working on the task. She cried out, him not wasting anytime as he'd pushed her underwear aside and thrusted a finger inside of her. He set off a fast pace that was exactly what she wanted making her pant beneath him. They kept their eyes locked on eachother, it somehow increasing the want inside of them both. He didn't wait long before inserting another finger which made her stretch just the right amount. Her legs started trembling as she moved her hips in time with his movements so he went deeper inside. She couldn't help pressing her head back against the pillow more, curling her toes unable to focus on anything except the luscious feeling that was flowing through her body.

She felt his thumb softly stroke her nub, making her gasp, her legs attempting to snap shut but couldn't because he was between them. She saw his pupils dilate considerably, beginning to flush a little himself and when she blinked he'd sealed her lips in an almost bruising kiss. His tongue mimicked the actions he was performing on the lower half of her body and she hummed in delight from it. Her hands moved up into his hair, firmly clenching onto it when he sped up the stroking and thrusting of his own hand, the sparks of her climax reaching the pit of her stomach. Her hips bucked up erratically as if she no longer had any control over her body, it seeking satsifaction all on its own. Sweat glistened against her skin when he tore his lips away from hers to instead lick down the valley between her breasts. She couldn't even comprehend the noises he was eliciting from her; her gasps, moans and cries all molded into one, so when he started sucking on her nipple, flicking her nub at a frenzied pace, the only thing she could do was let out a scream of euphoria when her orgasm hit. She was sure she was gripping onto his hair so hard that she'd torn a few strands out, since he grunted against her and bit the tender skin of her breast. Whether or not it was intentional didn't matter because it sent more jolts of electricity through her, making her climax all the more pleasurable. He helped her ride it out, not stopping his actions until she'd collapsed back onto the bed, feeling weightless. She swallowed, waiting for her heart to stop racing and her breathing to return normal eventually opening her eyes.

She cautiously unclenched her fingers and gasped seeing she had in fact pulled some of his hair out. She heard him groan in response as his forehead was resting against her chest and she softly started stroking his scalp apologetically.

"I'm sorry." She cooed, and he adjusted his head so he could look up at her. She saw the gleam in his eyes and the smirk on his face which proved how needless it was.

"Like you need to apologise. It's actually a compliment when you think about it, since I can drive you into such a state." He said, making her blush and press her lips together.

"That's a shame, because I was just about to make it upto you." She teased, and he lifted his head up, suddenly grimacing.

"Actually, now that you mention it, it hurts like hell." He admitted, so she pulled him up to her level, kissing him softly, massaging his pain away. She smiled against his lips, wondering if she'd ever been this happy. Her love for him and his for her seemed to be consuming her very soul in that moment, which was why she stopped the kiss.

"Ron." She said seriously, "What would you say if I wanted to go all the way right now?"

Her gaze met his and she saw his eyes widen, blinking a few times before he answered,

"Like sex...right now?"

She nodded, a nervous smile spreading across her face. He seemed even more astounded for a second until he looked at her scared.

"You don't mean like as an apology, do you? Cause I was only pulling your leg, it doesn't really hurt that much." He rambled, the tips of his ears pink and she chuckled lightly.

"No, not as an apology. I love you and I know I'm ready now." She stated simply, making him swallow. He was looking at her so nervously that she quickly added, "Unless you don't want too of course. I'd just assumed-"

"Oh no, I want to too. I just – don't want you to regret it later, you know? We haven't really talked about it before." He said waveringly, unsure if what he was saying was the smartest thing.

"But that's what's so good about it. I knew I could trust you completely and would wait till I was ready, so I never felt the need to 'have the conversation'." She explained, and he blushed a little from the proclamation.

"Just as long as you're sure." He said finally.

"I'm sure." She replied confidently. He beamed at her, in turn making her do the same and he kissed her enthusiastically. She wrapped herself around him, laughing in the back of her throat, adjusting them so she was on top of him. She still felt slick and ready from before and a pulsating was already beginning to form again with the prospect of what they were about to do. She reached over to the bedside table and carefully cast the birth control spell Mrs Weasley had taught her all those months ago. When she felt a cooling sensation pass through her stomach, she knew she'd done it correctly and put her wand back down.

She glanced back at Ron to see his eyes were firmly fixed on her chest, making her eyes roll.

"Have you done enough staring now?" She asked, and it seemed as if her question hadn't even gone through his mind, his eyes still fixated on her.

"Ron!" She snapped, unable to prevent the small laugh she let out with it. He immediately looked up at her face and grinned at her.

"I can't help it." He commented, his hands moving to rest on her hips. "They're just so..." his eyes drifted down again, "actually, no words can truly express how beautiful they are."

She snorted, raising an eyebrow up at him as he reluctantly looked back up at her.

"I'm being honest!" He claimed, and she leant down, rolling her eyes at him as she did, pulling him in for a kiss while she palmed his cheek. The kiss went on for much longer than she intended, something that tended to be a habit with their kissing, but she eventually pulled away. She could feel him straining beneath her and, judging by the expression on his face, he was using all his self control not to buck his hips up. She wasn't entirely sure what possessed her to do it but she ground her hips down on his making him release a gutteral moan that made her tense with just how arousing she found it.

Her heart was starting to race with a mixture of nervousness and excitement, while she ran her hands down his chest before fingering his underwear. She felt him twitch beneath her from her teasing and he let out an impatient groan.

"Mione." He whined, making her smile and she shifted so she could take it off. She gulped having never seen him completely naked before. He really was a sight to behold and she didn't even realise she was staring, particularly transfixed by the way his hips lead a path down to his-

"Urrr, Hermione, you okay?" He asked, making her blink several times and she immediately glanced at his face, to see him blushing embarassedly.

"More than okay." She replied waveringly, her nerves getting the best of her as he sat up properly, somehow making her smile dissolve. She couldn't remember a time where he'd looked so intensely at her and it made her breath hitch in her throat. He dove forward, not wasting any time as he pulled her bottom lip between his, knowing the effect it had on her since she whimpered. His tongue slipped in her mouth and she felt everything become hazy around her, utterly losing herself in the moment, in him. She pressed her chest against his, gliding her hands around his neck while she felt his slide down her legs. She barely suppressed a shiver from the contact and when he brought them back up, the tips of his fingers running over the sensitive skin of her inner thighs, the pulsating of her centre changed to a delicious ache. He slowly started lowering her underwear, never stopping their kissing until she had to so she could remove the last piece of clothing separating them.

When she turned back towards him, he stared into her eyes, a slightly guilty expression on his face.

"This is going to hurt you, isn't it?"

"I'll be fine." She replied hesitantly, not entirely sure how painful it would be.

"I love you, you know that – right?" He confessed hastily, and she smiled at him.

"You've made that more than obvious, and I love you too." She said, wrapping her hand around his length, lowering herself slowly. His eyes bulged and he gripped onto her legs more, forcing down all of his instincts. She guided him to her entrance and she sucked in a breath, deciding that it was best to get the painful part over and done with, so when she felt the tip of him, she pushed herself down until he was fully sheathed inside of her.

She instantly regretted doing it so quickly. It was as if someone had torn through her insides and she scrunched her face up, unable to stop the cry of pain from escaping her lips. She didn't move, choosing to remain rigidly still, just wanting the hurt to disappear. She bit her lip, trying not to give away how hurt she was but she couldn't stop herself from whimpering. She wasn't sure how long they remained like that but she soon realised that Ron was literally shaking beneath her. She opened her eyes and saw him trembling, his fists clenching the bed sheets, his forehead prickling with sweat. It dawned on her that he must be feeling the exact opposite of her and she relaxed a little, making him grunt. He opened his eyes and looked at her, sensing her staring.

"W-we can stop if you want." He barely got out, his hold on the bed sheets tightening. She shook her head adamently, taking a few deep breaths.

"No, I think I just need to relax to stop it." She said hoarsely, and he swallowed.

"Think I can do that." He replied, and shakily took hold of her waist in his hands. He started running his hands up and down her sides, admittedly flinching every now and then, making her insides tingle. He got more confident with his movements as they went on until he was massaging her breasts. She let out a soft moan, the pain beginning to ebb away.

"Okay." She said feeling more confident, and experimentally moved her hips for him to groan in response, halting his movements altogether.

"I'm really not going to last long." He mumbled apologetically, his entire face going red.

"Don't worry about it." She said honestly, and he swallowed. He looked at her for a moment and she saw his jaw tighten, a determined expression on his face. Before she could comprehend what he was doing, he'd taken her nipple in his mouth and sucked hard. She choked out, a flood of heat filling her stomach while he flicked her other nipple with his hand. He alternated between licking around her areola and sucking until she was sure she could no longer feel any pain whatsoever. She could now take pleasure in how he was filling her so completely. She rolled her hips again and gasped from the jolt it sent through her. While a little part of her still hurt, it was nothing compared to the fire it sent soaring through her stomach, making her clutch onto him. He lifted his head up to look at her and she beamed down at him, signifying she was ready.

She gently lifted herself off him a little before thrusting back down and they both let out a simultaneous moan. When she did it again, his hips met hers so he somehow went even deeper inside of her. They both started moving their bodies in a continuous rhythm, dissolving into a blur of pants and moans. Even though it was a little clumsy due to their inexperience at first, they quickly learnt what suited them best.

She could tell he was getting close when he started bucking his hips up erratically but he seemed determined not tofinish before her. She could feel her climax mounting but then he started rubbing her nub and she cried out, it doubling the amount of pleasure she was feeling. He pressed down on it harder, flicking it insistently and she dug her nails into his skin, her mouth remaining open as she whimpered. She could feel she was about to explode so she lifted herself off him until just the tip of him remained inside of her and slammed herself down again which tipped her over the edge as she orgasmed powerfully. She couldn't recall it ever being so intense. She literally had no control over her body and her mind went blank, her focus only being on the exquisite pleasure coursing through her. With her walls convulsing around him, he finally let go too as they both clutched onto one another, riding it out until they were both spent.

They collapsed onto the bed, still joined, breathing heavily and slick with sweat. Once they recuperated, she regretably adjusted herself so he was no longer inside of her, and she felt oddly hollow and empty without him there.

"How you feeling?" He asked hoarsely, tucking her hair behind her ears.

"Sore but nothing I can't cope with." She responded smiling, and he let out a sigh of relief.

"How was-"

"Perfect." She interrupted truthfully. "It was perfect."

* * *

><p><strong>A:N A lot happened in this chapter, hopefully nothing too disappointing though. I thought I'd just let you all know that before when I'd said this fic would be 38 chapters, it's probably going to be around 40 now as I hadn't anticipated how lengthy some sequences would need to be beforehand.**

**Anyway, thanks for the reviews and everything!**


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